The MAIM Project
by The Magic Bringer
Summary: Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover with Harry Potter. BB
1. The Box

**TITLE**

**Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover.**

_A gust of wind flew through the unit, a twinkle ringing through as it touched each chime in turn. A child, no older than five, with auburn hair and green eyes leaped up to try and hit the doorbell, missing it just slightly. Her older brother lifted her and she pressed it, a smile spreading over her features at the simple action. The girl and her brother waited patiently for a few moments. _

_The door creaked open, revealing a room filled with hanging plants and the musky scent of the old. Standing in the doorway was a wrinkled old man. A grin cracked his face wide open, and his eyes, like the girl's, shone. "Joy," he said warmly. There was a pause. "Kyle," he said the brother's name with much less enthusiasm, not that Joy noticed. _

_The boy wandered off into one of the other room, while his sister greeted the old man eagerly. "Gramps!" he sat down in a patched old chair, and she scampered onto his lap. "You wouldn't believe what _I_ did!" she wriggled around until she was comfortable, her head rested on his shoulder. He beamed at his great-granddaughter lovingly. "What did you do, sweetheart?" a hand reached out to smooth down her vibrant hair._

_Joy launched into her story happily, as he clung to her every word. She spread her arms wide and small, emphasising every minor point exaggeratedly._

Temperance Brennan sighed as the memory faded away, slipping through her fingers as a silvery liquid. A quick glance at the clock revealed it was midnight. Grabbing a pen, she scribbled two names on a piece of paper and left it on her bedside table, along with the time. Then she wrote two words, underlining them several times. Then she slipped back into bed, her auburn hair splayed wildly around her face as her green eyes stared up at the ceiling, refusing to stay closed despite weighing far more than they normally would. Eventually, eyes heavy with fatigue, she slipped into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Tempe woke to the screeching of her alarm clock. A hand slammed down on it, giving her momentary peace. Then she heard birds chirping outside her window. A pillow slammed over her face, smothering the sound. But a loud horn honked her out of her calm. It was just one of those mornings that you didn't want to get up, she groaned.

She sat up in bed, and immediately felt her stomach sink with foreboding for a reason she didn't know. She pushed it away as irrationality, and rubbed sleep from her eyes. She poured her cereal in a daze, putting it away in the fridge before snapping back to reality, the knowledge that something was not quite right nagging at her conscience.

She stopped a moment to think. It was only logical to think that there was a reason for this way of thinking, this feeling that she was having. Her mind ran over the events of the previous night – she'd finished work late, gotten home and fixed a bite to eat. She'd settled on the couch with a good book, and gone to bed a few hours later. She couldn't remember anything after that.

Tempe went back to her bedroom, noticing all of a sudden a sheet of paper on her bedside table. She picked it up, reading what was written: Joy, Gramps, 12.05am, RING RUSS.

It would have to wait, she decided, glancing at her watch. She didn't want to be late for work. Not giving herself a chance to think about her choice, she shoved the piece of paper into her pocket.

She paused. There was that feeling… she grabbed an object out of her drawer, and stuck it in with her work before she had enough time to change her mind. She left the apartment, locking it behind her and giving it a wary look as she left. She couldn't shake that feeling.

Tempe shook herself and told herself off. "Nothing is wrong – there's nothing to suggest that there would be anything wrong. It's an irrational thought."

By the time she got to work, the 'irrational thought' still hadn't gone away, and was apparently manifesting itself physically The first words from Angela's mouth were, "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

Tempe sighed. "Just a bad feeling is all," she began, trying to pas it off as less than it was, but Angela wasn't buying it.

"You don't have bad feelings, Bren. What happened?"

Tempe couldn't help it. She found herself sitting in her office, telling Angela exactly what had happened the night before and that morning, before she even knew she was doing it. "The strangest thing though, Ange, was that I don't remember Gramps – I remember Grandpa, but I tried to call him Gramps once and he didn't like it. So why did I write Gramps on that sheet of paper?"

Angela shrugged. "Maybe it was your other grandfather?"

Tempe shook her head. "I don't think so. I just can't seem to shake the feeling that I know exactly who he is."

"Who who is?" a voice drifted in, entering their conversation. The two women looked up, and saw Booth leaning casually against the doorframe. His gaze focused on Tempe as he waited for an answer.

Tempe shook her head, shrugging it off. "Just a name I wrote on a bit of paper last night and I can't remember why. I also wrote to ring Russ, so once I do that I'll probably know what I'm talking about. Have we got a case?" she turned the conversation around to work almost instantly.

Not wanting to pry any further, and figuring he'd get the full story later, Booth nodded. "Coming?" he asked, indicating that he'd explain on the way.

She smiled, and followed him out the door. Angela heaved a sigh and stared wistfully after the two of them.

_Kyle had, in the meantime, gone into the spare bedroom. He'd started by looking for a book he'd left behind last time he was at Grampa's house, opening dusty drawers and cupboards. He reached into the back of the cupboard, under a heap of grimy coats. It revealed a long wooden box, like you'd find at the foot of a bed. Kyle puffed as he heaved it out of the cupboard. It landed with a thud, sending a plume of dust into the air._

_He wiped grime off it with his shirt, and sat back to admire his handiwork. He sighed in frustration, noticing the lock that was obviously lacking in a key. Giving a sigh, Kyle tried to open it anyway, with no luck._

_He reluctantly slid the box back into the cupboard with effort, and closed the door behind it, searching once again for his book, something niggling in the back of his mind told him that the box was important._

**Author's notes: **The italic sections at the start and end of each chapter relate to each other, and tell a story. I haven't decided if it will be the same story continuous over each chapter, or a singular memory to a singular chapter. First person (aside from you, Tammy) who guesses what it's a crossover with can have the next chapter early. There's a hint in here somewhere if you look carefully. Be warned, it's very vague.


	2. The Letter

**The MAIM Project**

**Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover.**

**The Letter**

_A girl grinned up at her parents happily. "Thanks, Mommy! Thanks, Daddy," _

"_Your Gramps left it to you when he died. He wanted you to have it on your eleventh birthday, Tempie," her father explained. "But one of his friends asked us to give it to you now. We couldn't open it, but he seemed to think that you could." Matthew shrugged. "My grandfather and his friends were strange men, but he really loved you Tempe."_

_Tempe nodded, confused. Seeing that her father wasn't going to offer anymore of an explanation, she looked to her mother. Christine nodded, Russ looked eagerly at the present. Tempe tore at the wrapping paper. Her face fell. "It's a box. A boring wooden box. And it has no key, but it's locked!" she tugged at the lid. "Damn thing."_

_Matthew looked at her sternly. "That's no way to speak, Tempe. We'll take it to a locksmiths, okay?"_

_She sighed, rolled her eyes and plucked a bobby pin from her hair, and twisted it in the lock. Her mother and father exchanged a brief glance of confusion as the lid popped open. There was a top shelf with two letters. Written in a familiar script that Tempe couldn't quite remember was_ READ ME FIRST. _"Mommy!" she demanded, seating herself on her mother's lap. "Read it to me."_

"Bones!" Tempe jumped at the sound of her partner's voice from her side. She had been lost in her memory.

She looked at him. "What?"

He rolled his eyes and gestured to the field they had stopped in front of. A small rusting shack stood at the front, creaking loudly with every gust of wind. "We're here." Tempe hurried out of the car, pushing the memory to the back of her mind. Both led her around the shack to a hole in the ground. There were several holes in the ground, bodies and skeletons in varying states of decay lying beside them while they waited to be processed.

"What happened here?"

Booth looked around, taking in the sight. "The owner wanted to put a sewerage tank in, he needed to dig up a bit. He found a skeleton and called in the local police. They identified the skeleton as someone who went missing in Tennessee so it got passed on to us. They're still checking the scene for more skeletons – so far we've got twenty seven."

The scene was crawling with people in FBI jackets who walked around with sniffer dogs. A dog went berserk and one of the men cried out, "we got another one!" Several people with shovels rushed over to him and began to dig carefully. Tempe looked away, and down at the skeleton closest to her.

"What happened to them?" her voice was tainted by a tinge of horror. Despite her experience with dead bodies, this was somehow having more of an effect on her than normal.

"Chopped up. We mainly need your help in identification of the victims for this case," he told her.

"What about the guy who owns the place? Is he a suspect?"

Booth shook his head. "We haven't ruled him out completely yet, but it's unlikely. He's been living in Australia for the last fifteen years, and just left the property for squatters. Didn't even rent it. The oldest body we've found is thirty years, but it looked like it had been reburied anyway, apparently. The youngest was buried five years ago."

Tempe nodded taking it all in. She had a look at the first skeleton, which was lying unwrapped on the ground. The skull appeared to be the only piece bigger than a five by five cube, so she started with that. "Female, early twenties," she began her assessment. "Caucasian. 5'10. Cracked skull, and jaw."

"Do you know how her skull and jaw cracked?" Booth asked.

Tempe peered at the skull for a few seconds. "I can't tell. It looks like it almost exploded, with the origin on the inner cranium, but that doesn't seem a likely scenario. The jaw – well, she might have been clenching it, although to clench it hard enough to break it? Not likely."

"What if they were in pain?"

"That does make the situation more plausible. The skull fractured before the jaw – see how this crack intercepts this one?" she pointed it out to him and he squinted at it for a few seconds.

"Right." Booth said, nodding. "So what about the chopped up bits?"

Tempe crouched down in front of them to examined them. "They're very neat cuts – no splintering, indicating that it was severed with several motions. I'll get Zach tp examine for tool marks. It would have taken a long time to cut through. Certainly, if a person was alive while this was happening, they might clench their jaws in pain. Faint traces of a blue residue of some sort cover the cut surface. Maybe Hodgins can tell us what it is."

Booth bobbed his head in agreement. "What about the other skeletons?" They went and looked briefly at each of them.

"I'll be able to tell you more once they're back at the lab," she began after a pause. "But so far, they present with the same injuries. The manner of death is most likely homicide. Probably a serial killer. I can't confirm the cause of death yet. There doesn't seem to be anything special about the victims as yet – some of these are men, some are women, and their ages seem to range from very young to very old. All the skulls are still in tact, aside from the cracking, so Angela should definitely be able to get some faces happening."

"Then we can run them through the missing persons database." Booth finished for her.

_Tempe and Russ snuck up to their parents door. After Christine had paled upon scanning the letter and subsequently refusing to read it to Tempe, both of them were determined to find out what it said. Tempe pressed her ear to the keyhole and Russ peeked under the door. "It's a law, Christine! We can't do anything about it! If we do, they'll just take her away from us anyway!" Matt's voice flowed through. _

"_But it's not fair! They can't take her away from us! We're safe here, it's America. Just because your grandfather was one of them doesn't mean that she is!"_

_They could hear their father pacing around the room, his footsteps heavy and weary. "But she is, isn't she? Russ isn't, but Tempie is."_

_Their mother gulped audibly. "But he was a British Wizard! She's American, and their British laws don't apply to us unless we live there."_

"_She's an American Citizen, sure enough, but neither you nor I know how they work out whether she's American or British in their eyes. We have to let her go, at least that way we'll be able to visit, and maybe see her in the holidays." Their father's voice was choked up and their mother let out a sniffle. _

_Tempe stared at Russ in horror._

**Authors Notes: **Thanks once again for reading! Tell me what you think of it, okay? Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, and congratulations to those who guessed that it's a crossover with Harry Potter. Well done. Bye for now, next chapter should be up soon.

Sarah

PS: If anyone has an idea of how Booth and the squints would react to Tempe being a witch, please share. I'm having trouble with that.


	3. The Face

**The MAIM Project **

**Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover. **

_"But Mommy, I don't want to go! Please don't make me! Please Mommy! Daddy! I don't wanna be in an entire other country than you!" Tears prickled in everyone's eyes as __Tempe__ begged them not to send her. _

_"It will be fun, Tempie, a big adventure," her father comforted her. "And you can come home in the holidays. It will be just like having a really long sleepover." He was reasoning more with himself than his daughter. _

_Russ shoved a teddy bear into her arms awkwardly. "Here," he told her. She gave him a wobbly smile and hugged it close to her. _

_"Can't you at least come with me to Inglend?" she asked her parents in a small voice. They shook their heads. _

_"No honey, one of Gramps' friend is going to come and pick you up and take you there. I love you sweetie." __Tempe__ gave her mom another hug. _

Tempe thumbed through an old book. The pages were caked with decades worth of dirt and cracked with over a century of history. She paused at dog eared paged and sighed almost regretfully at them. "Sweetie?" Angela's voice cut into her reverie. The book was immediately pocketed, but not before Angela noticed it. "What's that? Has it got anything to do with the mystery Gramps?" Tempe rolled her eyes at Angela's playful pitch.

"Actually, it has." She began, pulling it out again to let Angela see it. "I rang Russ. He said that Gramps was Mom's grandfather. He's the one who told me, well, I was his favourite, apparently. He died when I was four. This is his Grandmother's diary."

Angela eyed it curiously. "Your great grandfather's grandmothers? That would make it your triple great grandmother's diary."

Tempe nodded. "She was an interesting person. Her name was Honora Ollivander. She was born in 1790. When she was eighteen, her father married her off to this horrible man named Reginald. He wasn't very nice, and he was abusive because she couldn't give him children. For some reason, when she was thirty she conceived. Then he died, and she raised the children."

Angela frowned at the blunt ending. "That's… nice, Bren. How far back can you trace your family?"

Tempe shrugged, mentally answering 382 B.C. Verbally, her answer was a simple "couple of hundred years."

Angela was impressed. Tempe mentally berated herself as she re-pocketed the diary before Angela could get too close a look at it. She should have never brought the subject up. "It must be so great, having access to that much knowledge about your family."

Tempe's face immediately soured, and Angela balked. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." her voice faded as she realised how weak her argument was going to sound.

Tempe let the silence reign for a few tense moments before speaking. "That's okay," her answer was short and sharp, but it let Angela breathe again. In truth, Tempe didn't mind. Now that she knew more than she had, and all that was left to do was to track down her father, it didn't hurt as much as it used to. And it gave her an excuse not to talk about family trees or anything but work with Angela for a while.

"Zach? What have you got?" Tempe asked him. He looked up from his analysis.

"The fractures on the parietal bones show no signs of healing, but there's no discolouration and they don't look like they were dry when they were cracked. I'd say that they were made peri-mortem. The fractures in the maxilla and the mandible present in the same way. The hyoid bone is missing, as is a section of the lumbar vertebrae. Parts of the ulna, two phalanges and a metacarpal from the left hand, and four sections of tibia are all missing. That makes me think that maybe the body was left out in the open for a while before it was buried. There are teeth marks on some of these pieces of bone." He rattled off the details at top speed, looking to Tempe for approval when he had finished.

"Good. What about the tool marks?" Zach brandished a radius shaped piece of plasticine at her in answer. It flopped over on itself as Tempe stared at it, waiting for an explanation.

Zach seemed to notice this, and was immediately forthcoming with a demonstration. "Not what I expected. You know those oversized lolly pops? The plastic casing is fastened to them by an extra thick, extra small rubber band." He produced one of said rubber bands from his pocket. Stretching it with some effort, he slid it over the plasticine and let go of it quickly. The rubber band cut through the soft material, easily severing it in half. He then showed Tempe the pattern that it made on the plasticine, and compared it to the one on the bone.

Tempe allowed herself a smile. "Very good. It's not the same, but it's very similar, keep searching." Zach nodded and once again glued his eyes to the computer screen.

"Dr Brennan!" Tempe stopped in her tracks, allowing Hodgins to speak. He looked around stealthily, "The blue powder couldn't be positively identified," was his first statement as he dragged her into the office, closing the curtains. "It contained traced of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, titanium and an unknown substance. I have a theory."

Tempe paused – did she really have time for one of his crazy conspiracy theories? She decided she did, and let him continue. "Go on."

Delighted to be heard, Hodgins did. "Someone who has access to alien technology had these people killed, and this unknown compound comes from whatever planet the alien did."

Tempe frowned. "Hodgins, I really don't think that's plausible. You're talking about intelligent extra terrestrial life here, and there is no proof of that. I want you to analyse the compound again. Maybe you'll turn something up."

Hodgins didn't look like he believed her, but went and did what he was told anyway.

"Sweetie, I've got a face," Angela handed her a sheet of paper with a sketch. "That's the first one that was found. I'm still working on the others."

Tempe nodded, looking down at the picture. "Right. Okay, thanks Ange." She flattened the picture on her desk.

Booth leaned over. "She's young. Pretty"

Long hair framed a pretty face with large eyes, high cheeks and thin lips. Angela had given her grey blue eyes and a dark tanned looking complexion. Tempe gulped. "I know her," she said almost immediately as a memory waded through the thick fog of her mind. The face in the picture was smiling, laughing. Pigtails jiggled as she ran, daring Tempe to chase her. A familiar voice bubbled to the front of her memory.

_Tempe sat and stared out the window as she stroked the head of her new pet, Snowy the cat. A small frown rested on her face, she was already feeling homesick. __Tempe__ didn't understand why her Mommy and Daddy were sending her away to this strange school. She was only five years old! Why couldn't she go to a normal school? _

_She watched as a group of four girls and their parents dashed across the platform. Their father tossed their luggage aboard, gave them each a hug and they scrambled onto the train. Only a few seconds later, __Tempe__'s carriage whizzed past their mother and father as the train drove away. Tempe waved for the last time, staring out the same piece of glass even once her family was long gone. _

_Voices rumbled outside her carriage, one particularly high pitched and young. She smiled at the sound without quite knowing why. _

_The compartment door opened and __Tempe__ looked up, revealing a girl her age with blue eyes and long brown hair in the doorway. "Hey, I'm Fiona." It was the youngest of the girls who has almost missed the train. _

_Tempe__ stuck out her hand. "I'm __Tempe__ Brennan." _

**Authors Notes: **Yes, I've resorted to bribery in order to get reviews. What bribes, you say. Well, see below.

Cookies for reviewers! Pick your flavour! Yes, edible cookies… or maybe just their purchase information.

Nah, seriously, tell me what you thought of it. I won't get offended. Promise. Unless you're my annoying brother. I can't believe I let him see my profile! Now he's going to read it! I feel sick at the very thought!


	4. The Friend

**The MAIM Project **

**Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover. BB **

_"Today is a great day," Professor Dumbledore began, tapping his spoon against his goblet to attract the attention of all the students. Tempe hushed Fiona, who is turn hushed their other friends, Cynbie and Alden. "I'm sure that you are all aware that You-Know-Who has been terrorising our world for far too long – in excess of seven years, should one care to measure it. His reign is, after all, the reason that many of you are here," at this point he eyed the table filled with children not yet at school age, all of whom were there only as a result of the Child Protection Act of 1976. "I have very good news for you all. Voldemort has been defeated. He will no longer be a threat to any of you." _

_Cries of what and how filled the hall. __Tempe__ grinned. She had only been there for a month, and now that You-Know-Who was gone, they'd let her go home. _

Silence followed Tempe's statement. Suddenly everyone was looking at her. "What? How?" Booth demanded instantly. Angela's face had morphed almost instantaneously into a sympathetic gaze.

Tempe mentally cussed, abruptly realising what Fiona's body being found meant. "Fiona was killed when we were both 20. We met when we were five, I went to school with her until I was thirteen. We kept in contact. Fiona was my best friend," her eyes gained a faraway look just thinking about the lost companion. Then, rather unnecessarily, she indicated the picture. "This is Fiona."

"How do you know she was killed when she was 20?" Booth pounced on it immediately, going straight into interrogation mode.

Tempe rolled her eyes and shook the veil of nostalgia from her back. "Well, for one, I examined her remains. Also, that's when she went missing."

Both looked suitably chastised as he muttered out an apology. "What else can you tell us? Do you know anything about any of the other victims? Who were the main suspects at the time?"

Tempe thought for a moment. "It was a gang hit. The Death Eaters." Her voice seemed detached. Booth and Angela allowed her a moment.

"Death Eaters, huh? Doesn't sound too friendly." Angela tried to give some levity to the situation. Her attempt flailed like a fish out of water and died. "Why would a gang have wanted to kill Fiona?" she tried to change the topic.

Tempe squeezed her eyes shut briefly, realising who she was talking to with Angela's enquiry. When no answer to her question was forthcoming, Angela repeated her question.

Booth put a hand on her arm. "Relax, Bones is going to answer the question." When there was no response from Tempe, he looked at her, "You are going to answer the question, right?" his voice wavered slightly, as if he were staring to doubt the validity of the statement.

A tear fell from the corner of her eye and she brushed it away, furious that she had let it escape in the first place. She opened her mouth and forced the words from her throat, half strangling them on their way out. "I can't."

Booth looked stumped. He watched, unsure of what to do while Angela comforted her best friend. She wrapped an arm around her shoulder and rubbed her back while the tears slipped out one by one. "Sweetie, just tell us. We aren't going to hate you or anything." She handed her a tissue.

Tempe mopped her face dry with the tissue and shook her head, her hair flicking around. She wiped a strand from her mouth. "No, really, I can't. I want to tell you, but I can't." Panic coloured her tone.

Booth and Angela exchanged a glance of concern that wasn't lost on Tempe. She decided to ignore it, and waited for their next question. "Tell us what you can, then."

There was silence as Tempe shook her head again. "There's nothing else I can tell you."

Booth slipped a glance at Angela. He tried a different line of questioning. "Tell us a bit about Fiona."

Tempe drew the picture towards her and reached for Angela's pencil. She turned it over, and rubbed out the skin tone. She picked up another pencil and began to shade in her face. "She had the palest skin you've ever seen. You could see her veins through it." She spoke slowly as she edited the picture. The grey blue eyes became brighter, more filled with life. Thick brown hair wrapped itself into plaits on either side of the head. "She always wore plaits. I've never seen her in anything different. She was one of those people who always looked exactly the same every time you looked at them, but never boring. She never even got a tan."

"So she spent a lot of time indoors?"

Tempe shook her head as she stared at the unmoving picture. "No. Her favourite pastime was sport, actually. She just didn't tan because of the weather. It was cold enough that it didn't have any effect on her skin tone. Scotland's a bit like that."

" Scotland?" Booth gave her a look, and Angela looked stunned as Tempe nodded.

"Our school was in Scotland. Every year on September first, we'd get the train there from London, and every year, Fiona almost missed it. She was never late for anything else, but she always nearly missed that train." Tempe let a melancholy laugh escape and she sighed. "When I turned fourteen, my parents decided that I needed to go to a more local school. I still spoke to Fiona once a week, if not several times. We lived in completely different countries and it was hard to find time between homework, school, sleeping and the time difference, but e managed it. Sometimes I even spoke to Cynbie and Alden, but not so much."

Tempe looked up at them both. "Booth, can you do me a favour?"

Booth nodded immediately. "Anything."

A smile twitched on Tempe's lips. "I need you to arrange a meeting between Cullen myself. Can you let him know that I will arrange for Madam Herron of the DMLE to be present?"

Booth nodded, confused at the instruction. "Just one thing, Bones," he said as she walked out the door.

She paused and looked at him. "What is it?"

"I need Fiona's full name."

Tempe nodded. "Fiona Rebecca Bones. Born 12 August, 1976" Booth stared after her, feeling slightly sickened.

All this time, he'd been calling her by the name of her dead friend. She'd asked him not to, but he did it anyway. He cursed mentally as the guilt set in. He pulled out his cell. "This is Agent Booth…"

_"Fiona? You still awake?" __Tempe__ sat up in the bed that was far too large for her. Fiona sat up in the one next to her. Cynbie, hearing the ruckus, slipped into consciousness. "I'm gonna miss you guys," __Tempe__ told them. _

_They all agreed. Cynbie pulled them into a group hug. "I'm never gonna not be your friend,," she promised them. "You're the best friends ever." _

_"We'll keep in touch, till Hogwarts" Fiona agreed. "Do you swear?" _

_They all nodded, and clasped their hands together. "We swear." A pulse of light lit the room, but was gone as soon as it came. The three girls hugged. _

_"We go home tomorrow." __Tempe__ stated. It was funny to think that she hadn't wanted to come. Now she was having trouble leaving. But she couldn't wait to see her Mom and Dad. _

**Authors Notes: **I'm not very happy with this chapter. It just doesn't seem to flow as well as it could. And is it just me, or does everyone seem very out of character? Well, I guess I am making a very big leap with the whole Tempe is a witch thing anyway. So, drop me a line, tell me what you think of it. And, there was a mix up - I posted the wrong chapter, skipped two. SO I'm posting everythin up to hat chapter now. Sorry guys.


	5. The Talk

**The MAIM Project **

**Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover. **

_Tempe__ had been surprised when she'd gotten two other letters aside from her Hogwarts one. One was from the __Woodburn_ _School__, which was like Hogwarts but American, and one was for the __Agnes_ _Sampson_ _College__ of Sorcery, a day school for witches and wizards. "I think you should go to Agnes Sampson, Tempie," her dad advised her. _

_She shook her head. "I'm going to Hogwarts! All my friends are there, I know what it's like. I like it there, I like the teachers." _

_"But __Tempe__," her mother tried to reason. "You'd learn your was around Agnes Sampson, and you'd learn to like the teachers, and you'd make new friends. You'd be closer to us. It's just easier." _

_"Mom," she whined. "I'd only be a floo away at Hogwarts. And I'd be able to practice magic after hours, and play Quidditch!" _

_Her parents discussed it at length, but eventually agreed. _

**TMP**

"Dr Brennan!" Cullen greeted her warmly, gesturing to an uncomfortable looking seat. Beside it was one that looked a great deal more comfortable. "You requested a meeting with myself and Madam Herron?"

Tempe seated herself on the stiff chair. "I did. Madam Herron is on her way." The fireplace flared and Madam Herron fell through. Cullen had a hard time suppressing his surprise at her knowing who Madam Herron was, but managed to do just fine when the much taller, more wealthy looking woman with fur-lined robes appeared in the room, intimidating even him.

"Good Morning, Cullen, Auror Brennan." she nodded her greeting at the both of them as she took her seat in the comfortable seat beside Tempe's.

They both nodded back, Cullen once again hiding his surprise. He wouldn't have picked her for a witch, much less an Auror. "Now, Auror Brennan, what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"As you know, sir," she spoke primarily to Cullen, apparently unintimidated by Herron. "Agent Booth and I are investigating a mass grave. I have reason to believe that it's a Death Eater burial site." Both Herron and Cullen leaned forward in their seats. Finding and returning the bodies of those suspected to have been killed by Death Eaters was a mission that had spent more man hours than any other, even with the help of locator spells.

Herron was the first to speak. "Please explain, Auror,"

Tempe presented the facts in an emotionally detached manner. "One of the bodies has been identified as that of Fiona Bones. She went missing during You-Know-Who's second reign. 23 December 1996. She was 20 years old at the time."

Herron frowned at this piece of information, producing for the first time a thin brown file. She flipped through it, before looking up at Tempe. "I understand that you were also 20 years old at the time of the incident. Do you have a personal connection to Fiona Bones, Auror Brennan?"

Tempe was reluctant to answer the question. She looked down at her lap. "Auror Brennan?" Herron prodded harshly.

"Sorry, Ma'am." Tempe said, looking her superior in the eye. "Yes, I do have a personal connection with Fiona. We were both subject to the Child Protection Act at the same time, and I attended Hogwarts briefly. We were best friends."

Madam Herron pursed her lips disapprovingly. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't take you off the case right away and suspend you for continuing an investigation despite an obvious conflict of interests?"

Tempe gulped audibly. "I don't think that you could find anyone completely emotionally detached form the case. Over forty bodies have been found, in all age and gender and racial ranges, and they're still excavating the area. I believe that anyone kidnapped by the Death Eaters who later died may have been buried here, or at least a great deal of them. You'd be hard pressed to find a competent Auror who did not lose someone to the Death Eaters."

Herron considered it for a moment. She nodded her head sharply. "You may continue, Auror Brennan,"

Tempe let out a breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding in. "Thank you, Madam Herron. What I brought you here for was to see I could have permission to brief Agent Booth and my team on the MAIM Project."

Madam Herron frowned and eyed Tempe carefully. "How many people is that?"

Tempe didn't even need to think about it. "Four. Agent Seeley Booth, Dr Jack Hodgins, Angela Montenegro and Zach Addy."

Cullen nodded. "Why do all four need to be briefed, Agent?"

Tempe was stumped. "Well, so that we can continue the investigation efficiently, of course."

"I see no reason why we shouldn't hand it to already aware agents."

Tempe nodded. She had anticipated this one. "My team is very suspicious. They would not take kindly to them being taken off the investigation, and they would question it. Dr Hodgins especially. It would alert them that something was up with the investigation, and they would probably continue to work on it anyway. Also, they know of my relationship with Fiona Bones. It would be unusual if I decided to just let them drop the case."

"You wouldn't be dropping the case, Auror."

"That would also arouse their suspicions. Even more so, perhaps."

"It would, wouldn't it. However, I'm yet to see a legitimate reason for briefing them. Could you not continue to investigate the magical elements yourself, lead them to think they are doing the investigating themselves, and catch the culprits that way, if they have not already been executed?"

"It wouldn't work. My team and Agent Booth are far too intelligent to be fooled by that."

Cullen and Herron wore identical masks of discontent. "Perhaps," Herron began. "Auror Brennan, I hope you don't mind a ward of silence while Deputy Director Cullen and I have a word?"

Tempe shook her head numbly as Herron retrieved her wand and erected a ward. She sat listening to the tick of the clock and staring at their mouths in the hope that she had somehow learnt to lip-read overnight and could understand what they were saying. It was making her nervous.

Almost half an hour passed before the silencing ward came down. "Very well, Auror Brennan," Herron conceded. "Deputy Director Cullen and I have come to a decision."

**TMP**

_"_ _Tempe__!" Her head whipped around to see a familiar face in the distance. Her hair was wild and spiked with pink tips, and she wore extravagant violet robes. _

_"Fiona!" __Tempe__ ran to her friend and they both hugged each other like they hadn't seen each other for years. Bystanders stared at the two of them as they clung together in the middle of Kings Cross Station as if they were magnets. Eventually, they let go. Truth be told, they'd spoken only the week before, by floo connection, but in their excitement to be finally going to Hogwarts as students, they seemed to forget that small detail. _

_Someone tapped __Tempe__ on the should. She whizzed around so fast that the movement of the air was audible. "Cynbie Anne Tierney!" she grinned. "Haven't seen you in months!" She gave Cynbie a brief hug. "Where's Alden?" _

_The brown haired boy appeared magically as if on cue. His dark eyes sparkled. "Someone talking about me, Brennan?" _

_"Alden!" she latched onto him in a hug. They all beamed at one another, glad that they were all together again. _

**Authors Notes: **Yes, Tempe is an Auror. The first person to guess somewhat accurately why Cullen called her what he did can have the next chapter early. Runner up prize is a preview.


	6. The Photo

**The MAIM Project**

**Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover.**

_Tempe grinned as she waited in the line. "Bones, Fiona," Tempe gave her friend a thumbs up as she walked nervously over to the hat. _

"_Still friends, no matter what," they had sworn on the train. The hat wasn't on Fiona's head long. "SLYTHERIN!" Fiona gave a nervous look up at Tempe, but Tempe just grinned back and gave her a thumbs up._

"_Bradley, Alden," the hat sat on his head for a long time. They seemed to be having a conversation. Eventually, the hat seemed to sigh and emitted a loud shout. "HUFFLEPUFF!" Alden sat down at the table next to the Ravenclaws._

_Tempe landed in Ravenclaw, and managed to get a seat across from Alden. "The hat almost put me there," Alden leaned over and whispered in her ear as she sat down. I changed its mind," he indicated the Gryffindors. Tempe smiled at him, and they both turned to their own tables. They three of them, all at different tables, waited impatiently for Cynbie's name to be called. Other names dribbled past at snail pace, and eventually it came. _

"_Tierney, Cyneburga!" Cynbie shuddered involuntarily at the sound of her full name and shakily made her way over to the hat, afraid that she would be alone in a different house. She needn't have worried. The hat was only perched on her head for a few minutes before it announced that she was in Hufflepuff, with her friend. She stumbled down the stairs and took her place next to Alden with a wide grin on her face. From her seat, she leaned back and turned around, saying hi to Tempe. All three of them grinned reassuringly over at Fiona as she sat by herself at the Slytherin table._

"Booth, we need to talk."

Booth looked at Tempe and nodded. "Shoot." Tempe looked at Angela. This was so not going to help her friend's eternal dream that she would get together with Booth.

"Alone," she modified. Booth's brow furrowed in confusion as Angela slid out the door, closing it behind her, probably thinking that they were going to 'make with the smoochies'. Tempe rolled her eyes at the thought.

She sat down at her desk. "It's about the case, really," she began, pulling a photo from her drawer.

"Why couldn't Angela be here if its…" the words dried up in his throat as the picture landed on the desk in front of him. He picked it up slowly, reverently.

"It's moving," he whispered, half in awe of it. "What is it? Was Fiona working on this before she died? Is it why she died?"

Tempe shook her head. "No," she told him. "No. She wasn't. That's just a photo of Fiona and I. It's quite a simple design, I'll explain it to you in a minute. First I want you to see some things."

She pulled out a large album, and slid it over the desk to him. He opened it carefully. The first picture was a toothy five year old sitting at a long table with her friends. The thing that struck Booth most about the photo was well, the ghost. That and the floating chandelier.

"Whoah. Bones, what _is _this?" Tempe looked at the photo.

"That's me, that's Cynbie, Alden, Fiona. That's the Bloody Baron." Tempe pointed at each in turn. Suddenly the Bloody Baron floated out of the picture and Booth jumped perceptibly.

Booth flicked through the photo album, looking desperately for something that wasn't there. A still photo. Eventually, he gave up. "Bones, what does this mean?"

Tempe took a deep breath. "I'm a witch. Those pictures are moving because there's a spell on them."

It had not been the answer Booth was expecting. Suddenly, he let out a chuckle. "That's a good one, Bones. You had me going for a while there. Nah, seriously, what is this? Some new technology? The graphics aren't bad – that ghost was damn near believable. How's it work? Is there like, a chip in the back or something?"

Tempe shook her head. "No, Booth, it's magic, plain and simple. Have you ever heard of the MAIM project?"

Booth searched his memory, frowning. "No. Well, not really. Okay, I've heard the name, but I have no idea what it is. Why?"

Tempe massaged the side of her neck. "You shouldn't have heard that name. The MAIM Project is Top Secret. So Top Secret, in fact, that its illegal to mention it. Not just here, but in every country in the world. See, the MAIM Project concerns the existence of an entire community that knows nothing about this world. They're worse than Amish, because not only do they not use any type of technology, but they don't know what it is. They rely entirely on magic, for cooking, building, communications, information, entertainment. I lived solely as a part of that world for thirteen years, from when I was five until when I was eighteen. The things is, sometimes this world has to interact with the Muggle world – that's what we call the world where there is no magic – and sometimes, wizards commit crimes against Muggles, or Muggles commit crimes against wizards. Because of this overlap, the MAIM Project was founded."

Booth held out his hand and the words dried up in her throat as she looked up. "Slow down," he told her.

Tempe nodded, and stopped talking. Booth rubbed his face in his palm, and looked at her. "Let me get this straight: There's a world where people don't use any electronic devices,"

"They don't work, because the magic interferes with them," Tempe interjected.

Booth took in her interruption with a slight nod of his head and continued to summarise. "because they have magic. You're a witch, which is why you know absolutely nothing about pop culture. And there's a program that deals with crimes that overlap into both worlds, which is the MAIM Project?"

Tempe nodded. "Exactly." There was a brief pause where both were silent. "How about you just ask the questions and I'll answer them?" Tempe suggested, a light smile resting on her lips.

Booth nodded. "That might work better. Okay, so what has this secret world got to do with this case?"

Tempe blew out slowly through her lips. "That's a loaded question, Booth. And a long story."

"Short version?" His charm smile hit her full force and she found her mouth filling with words and churning them out.

"_Fiona, what's wrong?"_

_Fiona sniffed and backed away. "You're in Ravenclaw, Tempe. I'm in Slytherin. Don't you get it?"_

_Tempe shrugged. "I get it. I've been a part of this world for as long as I can remember, Fi, of course I know about the house rivalries. But who says we have to let that stop us from being friends?"_

_Fiona shook her head, looking around. "They'll hurt me if they know I'm your friend. Look, take this." She shoved a hastily wrapped object into her hands. "Most families have a few of these, don't worry about it. We'll talk later." Fiona departed hastily, leaving Tempe standing in the corridor, confusion settling over her brain. _

_Cynbie and Alden came up behind her. "We heard," Cynbie said simply. "Don't worry, she'll come around." Tempe gave a small, worried frown. _

"_I hope she does." They stood there, at the top of the staircase for over ten minutes. "You know, there's 142 staircases here," she commented offhandedly, watching as one rotated around to them._

_Cynbie and Alden both nodded. "You made us help you count them, remember?"_

_Tempe sent them ahead, and looked down at the object in her hands. She ripped the wrapping open and stared at it. It was a small handheld mirror._


	7. The Terrorist

**The MAIM Project**

**Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover. BB**

_Tempe sat on the four poster, inhaling deeply through her nose. The familiar, comforting scent of Hogwarts invaded her brain and filled her with a great sense of fulfilment. I had been so long. Impulsively, she pulled the curtains closed and flopped backwards onto the sheets. Suddenly, she felt warmth in herpocked. Groping around for a few seconds, she pulled out an object. The mirror misted over and Fiona's face appeared. Tempe jumped in surprise. "Fiona?"_

_Fiona's face grinned back at her. "Hey. Sorry I couldn't talk this morning." Tempe rolled over so that she was sitting on her stomach, her elbows propped up on the ground and her chin resting on her hands. She looked down at the mirror. _

"_Has it got a protean charm on it?" _

_Fiona laughed at the question. "Something like that. It will let us talk without anyone knowing. We can still be friends. And we can pair together in class for projects. As long as I call you Brennan and you call me Bones and we don't let on that we're friends to anyone, we can still be."_

_Tempe frowned. "Fiona,"_

"_No, seriously, Brennan. I've got it all worked out."_

_Tempe finished her thought. "This isn't going to last forever, will it, Fiona?"_

"_Of course not, Brennan!" Fiona laughed. "Just until we learn some magic so we can protect ourselves." Tempe nodded absently as Fiona closed the connection on the mirror. It was then that she developed a strange attachment to her surname._

"You-Know-Who is a terrorist. He had followers, known as the Death Eaters. They kill anyone who disagrees with their cause. Fiona disagreed. She was one of the first to disappear in the second war. In fact, we didn't even know that the second war had started when she disappeared. Cynbie, Alden and myself just thought she'd gone on a holiday without telling us at first, it's just the sort of thing she'd do."

Booth just stared at her. "Right. I think I'm gonna want the long version. But right now, I don't have time. Work finished official half an hour ago. I have to go pick up Parker. I've got him over the weekend."

Tempe nodded. "I'll tell you on Monday?" she suggested.

Booth nodded, before hesitating, and shaking his head. "No, why don't you come and have dinner with me and Parker. You can explain the rest on the way to pick him up. Come on, Tempe. You need to get out and relax a bit."

Tempe had half a mind to protest. "I need to work," she said weakly.

Booth shook his head at her. "No, you don't. You can't work properly if you don't relax a little in between. You're going to have dinner with me and Parker."

"I don't want to intrude."

"You're not intruding. Come on,"

Seeing that Booth wasn't going to let up, she sighed and gave in. "Alright. And Booth?"

He looked at her, as if warning her to protest. She didn't. "You can't tell anyone about magic, you know. It would ruin us. We're not ready for this world. If anyone was to find out about us, we'd be doomed." Her eyes were serious as she practically begged him, or as close to it as she could get.

"I promise," Booth eased her worries and she smiled. "Now, come on, I'm running late.

Booth practically dragged her out of the office. Angela eyed them curiously as they said a hurried goodbye and left in his car.

"…Dark lord – basically someone who wants to kill everyone who even likes non-wizards. They use magic for their cause and stop at nothing. Magical Law Enforcement Officers and Aurors – like FBI Agents – are there mainly to apprehend them." Tempe explained carefully as they rounded a corner.

"I still don't see what this has to do with the case." Booth was surprisingly calm, keeping his eyes focused on the road as he listened.

"Fiona disagreed with You-Know-Who. He got his followers to kill her, and a lot of others like her. So far, only one percent of the bodies have been found. All known Death Eaters have been charged and convicted, but we never got the burial sites. This case is very important to our world, because returning the bodies means peace for a lot of families. Also, it helps to know what happened to them."

Booth seemed to consider the information seriously. "Okay, so that's that. What's the MAIM Project, 'cos I gotta tell you Bones, that's not a very friendly acronym."

Tempe laughed unexpectedly. "I know. Bad choice, wasn't it? It stands for Magical Aid to the Investigations of Muggles. It was going to be Magical Aid to Muggle Investigations, but they thought that acronym sounded too much like Mommy."

"And they think MAIM is better than that?" Booth sounded sceptical.

Tempe shrugged. "We're not exactly known for our excellence in acronyms, though some of them are quite good. We're an isolated society."

Both rolled his eyes and spoke sarcastically. "You're an isolated society. I get it now, it explains everything."

"I think it explains a lot," Tempe retorted, hurt. "Like why I don't understand your pop culture references. I grew up in a different world, Booth."

"I didn't mean it like that," Booth sighed. "Can we just give it a rest?"

Tempe conceded and Booth got out of the car.

"Parker, don't play with your food," Booth told his son as he observed the boy putting his broccoli under the table when he thought his father wasn't looking. Parker pouted and returned it to his plate. Tempe held back a smile at his antics.

Booth turned and spoke to her for a second. She shook her head and looked at him. "Sorry, what?"

Booth grinned as he saw where her attention had been. He repeated himself between bites. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"I thought I might go visit Cynbie and Alden. Tell them we found Fiona. Catch up. Play with my Godchildren," she shrugged.

Booth's mouth practically dropped open, and Parker giggled at him. "Daddy, don't eat with your mouth open!" he cried.

He closed his mouth abruptly and finished his bite. "You have godchildren? I thought you didn't want children, and that you didn't believe in God."

"Just because I don't want children of my own doesn't mean I don't like children. And having Godchildren is a bit different where I come from. There's only one, you get the whole family, and there's not really any religious significance. It's just like having an extra parent. We borrowed the term from your world, really. It's not the same thing."

Booth nodded. "Oh."

"Did you and Parker want to come?" she invited impulsively. "Emmett's about Parker's age."

Booth hesitated for a moment. "Where is it?"

Tempe suddenly looked a bit sheepish. "England. I guess not then. Emmett and Parker don't even live in the same worlds, let alone countries. Sorry, it was a stupid idea. Don't worry about it." But just as she finished talking, the broccoli on Parker's plate gave an audible pop and disappeared before their eyes.

"_Hi Mom, hi Dad," Tempe greeted sullenly. _

_Matthew looked at her sternly. "Tempe, we haven't seen you since Christmas. I would think that you could be a bit nicer to us, we're your parents."_

"_Whatever."_

_Matthew and Christine exchanged solemn glances. "Tempe, we feel that having you so far away from us for such a long time every year isn't a good idea. You've been at Hogwarts for three years, but we think that it would be best if next year, you went to Agnes Sampson. We've enrolled you there and they've accepted you. We're going to revoke your enrolment at Hogwarts tonight." _

_Tempe's mouth dropped open. "You can't do that!"_

"_We can, Temperance, and we will. You're getting out of control. Every time we see you, which isn't very often, you're moody because we've caught you at a bad time, or because you have a game in five minutes, or you're going to that village. We hardly know you, Temperance. At Agnes Sampson, you'll come home every night and we won't have these problems. And what about your brother? You haven't even spoken to him for almost two years, but you were great friends before. No, Temperance, it has to stop, and it starts here and now."_

"_I hate you!" Tempe yelled at them, but didn't bother trying to argue. Her parents had made their decision. Instead, she sat silently in the back of the car, and once they got home, she went to her bedroom and began to cry._

**Authors Notes: **So, what do you think? I'm so sorry about the wait for this chapter, but this was the best I could do. I've been busy with school. Hopefully, next chapter won't take as long, but I can't give you nay guarantees. Just know that it is coming. : )


	8. The Wizard

**The MAIM Project**

**Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover. BB**

"_Hi, I'm Eliana! Are you new here?" Tempe nodded at the overexcited blonde. "That s so cool! We haven't had a newbie in forever! So, what do you like?"_

_Tempe clutched her book to her chest and mumbled out a reply. She had never been good at meeting new people "Quidditch."_

"_Quidditch?" Eliana laughed. "That's so… British. Quadpot is so much better."_

_Tempe lifted her chin defiantly. "Then why don't they have an International Tournament? Quidditch is the best sport. And the Harpies are the best team."_

_Eliana gave a giggle. "You've even got a cute little British accent!"_

_Tempe frowned. "I don't!" But she realised suddenly that she did. She paused for a few seconds, then attempted to mimic Eliana's accent. "I'm an American."_

_Eliana gave her a look. "I know you want to fit in, honey, but no-one likes a try hard or a liar."_

"What was that?" Booth demanded, looking at Tempe expectantly, as if she could give him an answer. "Did you do that?"

Tempe shook her head mutely. She moistened her lips with her tongue. "I need a wand. Wandless magic is always accidental, and you grow out of accidental magic when you learn how to use a wand. Booth, I think…" she trailed off.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Tempe Booth stood up quickly, going to answer it, but not before telling Tempe that he did want an explanation. He pulled the door open rather violently. "Hello?" his words were gruff, but it didn't ruffle the woman at the door.

"Hello, Mr Booth, my name is Kate Taylor. I'm from the DAMIM. I'd like to come in to talk about your son, Parker."

Tempe had been listening from the kitchen. "Let her in, Booth." Frowning slightly in confusion, Booth stepped aside and Kate walked into the room. He led her to where Tempe and Parker were seated.

Upon seeing Tempe, however, Kate stopped. "Auror Brennan?"

Tempe nodded. "Ms Taylor, how are you?"

Kate looked around in confusion between Parker, his father and Tempe. "Parker Booth is listed as a Muggleborn. Has there been some kind of a mistake?"

Tempe shook her head. "No, not at all. I'm just friends with his father. He knows about our world – sort of, anyway. Parker doesn't. But still, go ahead. Do your job. You'll also need to visit his mother and explain it to her."

So Kate did. "Mr Booth, your son is a Wizard." It was simply too much for him to process in one day. He could handle magic existing, he had half believed it before anyway. He could handle his partner being a witch, sure it was odd, but he could deal. But his son being a wizard, Booth could not deal with. It was the straw the camel's back. So Booth did the only thing that seemed reasonable in the situation. He fainted.

Booth could scarcely believe the things he'd come to accept since Friday. Here he was, in England, where only minutes earlier, he had been in his living room. His partner, ever the sceptic, Temperance Brennan, was a witch. His son, Parker, was a wizard. From where he was standing, dazed, he vaguely noted a dish scrubbing itself and an elf cooking a meal. Parker jumped up and down in excitement at his side, chanting "Oh man, oh man, oh man," repeatedly, occasionally breaking it up with a hurried "this is so cool!"

Tempe was, in the meantime, dusting off her robes – robes? Since when did she wear robes? – and smiling at Parker's enthusiasm. She was soon bowled over by at pair of eight year olds running toward her, squealing.

"Hello, Tempie, Fiona," Tempe grinned at the twins, hugging them.

"Hi Aunty Tempe," they greeted back happily. Suddenly, the one on the left ran to the stairwell and hollered in an upward direction. "Dad! Aunty Tempe's here! She's got a guy and some kid Emmett's age with her. He's hyperactive!"

There was small pop and the man from some of the photos Booth had seen appeared. He immediately wrapped Tempe up in a hug. She returned it wholeheartedly. "I'm Alden Bradley," he introduced himself to Booth, holding out his hand. Booth took it and shook it.

"This is Seeley Booth," Tempe told Alden. "He found out about our world yesterday, and his son Parker is a Muggleborn. He's a friend of mine. Is Cynbie here?"

Alden nodded at the information about Booth, and shook his head at Tempe's question. "She's gone to Diagon Alley with Kelvin. She should be back soon."

Tempe nodded. "Okay."

"So, what brings you here?" he asked.

Tempe gestured to Booth. "Well, partly so that Parker could meet Emmett, partly to catch up and the other part should wait until Cynbie gets home."

Alden eyed her curiously, but seeing that se wasn't going to say anything, shrugged and turned to smile at Parker. "Emmett, come here!" he shouted.

There was a small thud from upstairs, and a little boy with brown hair that hung in his eyes tumbled down the stairs, holding a small broomstick. His eyes immediately latched onto Tempe. "Aunty Tempe!" he squealed, and ran clumsily over to her. He held out his hands and pouted.

Alden and Tempe both laughed, and Tempe produced a little box from her pocket. "Thank you, Aunty Tempe!" he said, taking it and pulling a chocolate frog from the wrapper. Seeing Parker watching, Tempe handed one to him too.

"Emmett, this is Parker. He's a Muggleborn, so don't go scaring him," Tempe introduced. Parker had already been warned that he would be meeting Emmett, and was looking forward to it. But now that it actually came to it, he looked more apprehensive than excited.

Emmett grined through a mouthful of chocolate. "Come on, you can use the twins old training brooms. I've got Kelvin's. We can go and play Kidditch."

"What's Kidditch?" Parker asked.

Emmett ran up the stairs, and Parker followed him. They could hear the tail of the conversation as they left. "...adults won't let me play Quidditch"

Booth turned to Tempe. "What are they playing?

"Kidditch. It's a less rough, less players game of Quidditch. Basically, they both fly around and throw balls at each other."

"Oh," Booth said, dazed.

Soon, Cynbie and Kelvin arrived home. "Oh, hi Tempe." Cynbie said from underneath several bags. Kelvin stepped from under a slightly smaller pile, leaving it on the floor. The elf that Booth had seen earlier was hurrying around, putting everything away.

"Hi Aunt Tempe," Kelvin greeted.

Tempe gave him a hug and he squirmed away, disappearing when he reached the bottom of the stairs. "We had an automatic portkey installed and keyed to him. His room doesn't have a door, the builders stuffed up."

Tempe nodded in understanding. "I'm here about Fiona, actually."

Alden and Cynbie both looked over at the twins, who were playing gobstones in the corner. Tempe shook her head. "No, I mean Fi, we found her remains."

With those four words, the three friends collapsed into a hug, sobbing.

"_Principal Farnham?" The plump middle aged man looked up at Tempe and frowned. _

"_Temperance Brennan. You've not been fighting again, have you?" _

_Tempe shook her head. "No, sir. I just wanted to talk to you about something."_

_Farnham gestured to the seat in front of him. "Go ahead, Miss Brennan."_

_Tempe sat down. "I want to go to Muggle School," she declared. "I've been learning the same things as Muggles do over a correspondence course so far, but I want to actually go to one of their schools."_

_Farnham frowned "Miss Brennan,"_

"_No sir, I'm serious. I think I'd be better off learning this over a correspondence course than learning Muggle things over one. I don't fit in here. I don't have any friends."_

"_Very well, Miss Brennan. It can be arranged of course. And you'll need a tutor at least once, if not twice or three times a week for the practical things. We can issue you with a provisional licence, or you could just floo here when you need to do potions and extra practice. I'll just need to get parental permission, and you should be ready to go in a month." _

_Tempe smiled guiltily. "I haven't exactly asked Mom and Dad. I thought maybe you'd talk to them for me."_

_Farnham sighed. "Alright, Miss Brennan."_


	9. The Bradleys

**The MAIM Project**

**Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover with Harry Potter. BB**

_Slowly, Tempe stopped worrying about everything and allowed herself to relax. "Thanks for listening Russ," she embraced him for the first time in a long time, a bright smile lighting her face. _

_Russ awkwardly patted her back and smiled at her. "__I'm proud of you Tempe__," he mumbled, blood rushing to his face almost immediately._

_Tempe grinned even wider and squeezed him tighter before suddenly releasing him. "You're the best brother __ever__."_

_A beaming smile dangled from Russ's lips. "Don't I know it.__" He replied. "__I'm going out with my buddies, but I'll be back later. Watch some TV in the meantime, Tempe."_

"_I can't,__ Russ. I've got a poetry essay __due __tomorrow in English__ and I need to get those transfiguration papers in. If I get all that finished, I've got a potion that I should practice brewing__; I'm going to be tested on it __on Saturday. I've also got a document study in World History_ _due __on Friday."_

_He gave her mournful look. "I don't know how you stay sane, Tempe. Tell you what, I'll go with you to the Wizards Pitch on Sunday and watch you shoot a few hoops."_

"_You don't 'shoot hoops' in Quidditch, Russ," she said, exasperated. _

"_What do you do, then?" Tempe launched into a detailed explanation of the finer points of Quidditch as Russ settled into the chair again, forgetting his plans._

Tempe wearily fumbled for the key to her front door. Pausing for a few seconds, she rubbed the back of her neck and breathed deeply. She'd been running herself ragged over the identification of the victims, and she was finding that she knew more and more of them. The case was becoming more uncomfortable as it dragged on, moving at a snail-like pace. Finally, she slipped one of the keys into the lock and shoved the door open. She stumbled through the house with heavy eyelids and a heavy heart, barely making it to the room before falling asleep fully dressed on the bed.

"Tempe, we refuse to let you wallow!"

Confused, Tempe opened her eyes, and closed them again. She was dreaming.

"Temperance Brennan, don't you dare ignore me!" the voice came again.

Tempe pried her eyes open a second time, and allowed them to adjust for a few seconds. "Alden?" she asked, blearily. "Cynbie? What are you doing here?"

"We're all moving in with you for a while." Cynbie told her, matter-of-factly.

She glanced at the clock. Six o'clock. It was too early in the morning and Tempe couldn't be bothered arguing. "Fine. But I don't have enough room for you and the kids here."

Alden smiled sunnily. "No need to worry, Cynbie and I hired a trunk."

Tempe nodded. "Right. Couldn't you have let me sleep a little longer?"

"Well, not really," Cynbie began, before she was interrupted by a loud ringing.

"AUNTY TEMPE, YOUR FELLYTONE'S RINGING!" Kelvin's voice rang through the house.

Before Tempe had a chance to react, Alden was bellowing back a reply. "ANSWER IT!"

The Bradley family hadn't even been here five minutes and they were already taking over.

"Rebecca, I don't know why you can't accept it," Booth ground into his phone. He listened briefly, before sighing. "Look, Rebecca, clearly we need to talk about this. Again. But right now, I'm at work, and I don't have time for this."

Faint but unrecognisable sounds emitted from the other end of the line. "That's not what I mean and you know it! Yes, I know he's my son too. Look, I'll come by later and we'll talk. Okay?"

Dial tone sounded in his ear and Booth put his phone back in his pocket, clearly not in a good mood. "I see you're finally here," he snapped at Tempe.

Tempe looked offended. "I overslept, I'm sorry," she told him with a touch of anger in her tone.

Booth immediately regretted his harshness. "Sorry," he apologised.

She forgave him immediately.

"So why are you late?" he asked her, curiously.

"I overslept," she admitted.

Booth raised an eyebrow. "You, oversleep? Are you alright Temperance?"

"Temperance?" Tempe asked on reflex.

Booth flushed and coughed. "Yeah, I thought since Fiona's name was Bones…" he trailed off, embarrassed.

Tempe laughed, but hastened to reassure him. "It seems an odd time to start calling me Tempe, when you've known her name was Bones for almost a week. Besides, I like you calling me Bones," she admitted self-consciously.

With that admission, Booth grinned at her. "You like it when I call you Bones?" he teased.

"In various cultures a nickname, like Bones, indicates a close friendship or relationship between two people. By calling me Bones, you are saying that I am your friend." Looking away, Tempe busied herself by pulling out a list of names and addresses.

"Alright Bones," Booth rolled his eyes and smiled at her, "now let me see what you got there."

She smiled back at him and the conversation was forgotten. "I was able to get this list, from the Ministry, of people possibly affiliated with the Death Eaters. The first five on this list are Americans, but the other thirty two are spread throughout Europe." She handed Booth the list. "Although the second war took place world wide, it was stationed mainly in Europe."

"What was mainly a European thing?" Hodgins enquired. He had several sheets of paper in his hands.

"We believe that a British terrorist organization is responsible for these deaths," Booth explained.

"What have you got?" Tempe asked.

Hodgins handed her the sheet of paper, which she began to examine thoroughly as he gave a commentary on the results. "You know how we suspected that some of the bodies were buried in a different place at first? Well I've narrowed it down. The soil samples revealed that the bodies had been buried for long periods of time in a forest; specifically, a forest in Scotland that very few people are permitted to study. It's a major conservation project or something, the information I have is a bit sketchy. It's situated near the dump, which seems pretty contradictory. Dr Brennan? Are you listening?"

Tempe had zoned out several seconds ago, and her face faded to white. "That's sick. By Merlin that's sick," she whispered.

Hodgins frowned at the strange phrase. "By Merlin?" he repeated. "Usually it's 'by god.'"

"She's trying to point out that both God and Merlin are fictional." Booth falsified quickly while Tempe got over her shock.

"Go on," she instructed Hodgins, ignoring his request to explain what she had been saying before.

"We were able to get some DNA samples from some of the skeletons, and every one of them presented with the same pair of irregular alleles. It appears that whoever did this was trying to commit some form of genocide."

Tempe nodded in agreement and Hodgins posed a question. "Dr Brennan, do you know of any genetic anomalies Fiona may have had?"

"None," Tempe lied. "Thanks Hodgins."

"Bren, we're all going to Wong Fu's, coming?"

Tempe shook her head. "Sorry Ange, I've got plans."

"Reading a bunch of science journals does not constitute plans, Brennan," Angela ribbed with a smile.

Tempe raised an eyebrow, and looked up from the microscope. "What makes you think I'm reading science journals? I've got plans."

"Doing what?" Angela asked, interested.

Tempe lowered her head to the microscope again, and made a notation on a sheet of paper. She began to pack up. "I've got some old friends over for a while."

Angela looked interested, but Tempe was gone before she had a chance to enquire too deeply.

"Kelvin, why aren't you joining in any of the fun?" Tempe asked, seating herself in front of him. Cynbie, Alden, Tempie, Fiona and Emmett were immersed in a game of Monopoly. The children were exceedingly amused by that fact that the pieces didn't talk or move of their own accord. Kelvin, on the other hand, had his head buried in his book.

"I'm going to Hogwarts next year," at her question Kelvin looked up briefly. Once he had answered it, stuck his head back in again.

Tempe gently tugged the book from his hands. "Give me that, Kelvin." She closed the book. "The Magic Shield by Francis Melville? Kelvin, this is third year reading. What are you doing?"

"I don't want to be behind in all my classes," Kelvin admitted, red-faced.

Tempe smiled at his innocence. "Kelvin, put that away and don't let me see you with it again. No-one knows anything when they first go to Hogwarts. It's expected. Now, you either come play monopoly with all of us, or I'll get out the chessboard."

Kelvin grinned. "Chess please."

Tempe rummaged around in her cupboard for a few seconds, before she found what she was looking for. She handed the box to Kelvin, before reaching for her wand and conjuring a table and some chairs. Kelvin placed the box on the table and opened it up, claiming the white side as his own. One of his pawns (a small white mouse) scuttled away and Kelvin toppled off his chair, pouncing on it. The mouse managed to escape his grasp, and he scrambled after it. It hid underneath the couch and Kelvin peered miserable at it.

"It's not coming out," he informed Tempe. "And I think that some of the other pieces are missing. Do you have Gobstones?"

Tempe indicated the negative, and Kelvin's face drooped. "Cheer up," Tempe told him. "There's still monopoly."

But the others had finished their first game and didn't want to play another. "I know," Alden crowed, "let's go for a fly."

Tempe shook her head. "Not in a Muggle area. We could go for a drive though,"

So they did. After some magical expansion of the inside of the car, the seven of them piled in, and Tempe found herself driving them around Washington, pointing out monuments and such to Alden and Cynbie, while the four children argued loudly in the back about who was in whose space. Suddenly, Fiona leaned over and began to poke Cynbie repeatedly. "Mummy, we're hungry. When are we going to eat? How long till we get home?"

Tempie soon joined in. "Mummy, I need the toilet. How long until we get to the next toilets? Are we there yet?" Not wanting to be left out, Emmet and Kelvin pitched in with questions of where they were going, how long it would take, would it be fun and so on. Cynbie had been taking this all very well for about twenty minutes, when suddenly she snapped.

"Be quiet!" the car screeched to a stop as Tempe slammed the brakes on in shock. "The next one of you who says anything is getting out and walking home!" The four children silenced. They had stopped not even a block away from Wong Fu's. Tempe suggested that they go in, so that the kids could eat and use the facilities, while Cynbie and Alden could meet everyone.

"_Tempe, they're gone. Get used to it." Russ' face was alive with pure fury._

_She brought her chin up, face hardened with denial. "No! They're not gone! They'll be back, Russ! I know it!"_

_Russ sneered, his features turning ugly. "What, did you see it in your crystal ball? Grow up, Tempe! Mom and Dad are gone. We don't know where they are. They're probably not coming back! Why can't you understand that?" His anger petered out into hopeless and pitying frustration._

_Tears welled in her eyes. "They are coming back! I hate you! I hate you! Leave me ALONE!" Her tears bubbled over and streamed down her face as she yelled at her brother. Suddenly, she ran to her bedroom and buried her head in her pillows. "They're not gone, they're not gone, they're not gone," she repeated the mantra as if saying it would make it true._

_Russ stood rooted to the spot by his sister's words. His shoulders slumped. The closeness that they'd had so recently was gone, had disappeared with his parents._

**Authors Notes: **For reasons of clarity, in the narrative of the story, Tempe (Bradley) will be referred to as Tempie, while Tempe (Brennan) will remain Tempe. During dialogue, I will attempt to make it as clear as possible, but should any confusion arise, please inform me.

Also, The Magic Shield by Francis Melville is a real book. It's a guide to the defence against the dark arts and can be found in the new age section of bookstores. I have just been waiting for an opportunity to use it, it was too perfect.

On another note, I now have a beta. Thanks a million to butt3rflykiss89, she's done an excellent job.


	10. The Argument

**The MAIM Project**

**Bones has a secret. A secret that her latest case with Booth will uncover. Crossover with Harry Potter. BB**

_Dear Professor McGonagall,_

_I am writing on the behalf of my sister, Temperance Brennan. As you may or may not be aware, our parents have recently __disappeared__. I know that Tempe would very much like to return to your school, and I was wondering if this would still be possible. Otherwise, she will have to go into foster care as I cannot look after her. _

_I believe that our parents would prefer for her to return to Hogwarts, as opposed to all other courses of action._

_Kindest regards,_

_Russel Brennan_

""

_Dear Mr R Brennan,_

_I am sorry to say, but we must decline your sister a position at our school at the present time. Re-enrolment forms can be obtained through the Ministry of Magic, but must be signed __by __either of your parents, as they were responsible for the original retraction of enrolment. _

_We would love to have Temperance re-enroll but l__egalities otherwise prevent us from accepting her. _

_Sincerely, _

_Professor M. McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

_""_

An abject silence surrounded the Bradleys since Cynbie's tirade, which had dissolved as soon as they entered Wong Fu's. It took only seconds for Angela to spot Tempe among the crowd, despite the fact that she hadn't been expecting her. "Bren!" she exclaimed, rising from her seat and coming over to her. "You came!"

Tempe nodded. "We were in the area," she gestured to the Bradleys. "Ange, these are my best friends, Cynbie and Alden Bradley."

Angela's gaze quickly flew to the Bradleys, and a sharp pang of jealousy rose in her stomach at the title. Quickly quashing it, she introduced herself and discreetly examined the couple. Alden was tall and lanky, with roughly cropped brown hair and dark eyes that glinted in the light. Large ears protruded from his head and after noticing Angela's gaze, he flattened them in embarrassment. Angela flushed and pulled her eyes from his face, looking down. His freckled arm was wound around his wife, keeping her glued to his side. Angela flicked her eyes up to Cynbie's face briefly. It was visibly tense. She had a round chin and a thick prominent nose which only served to intensify the look of anger on her face. Her hair was something of a mix between the colour of dirt and ash, and framed her face in shoulder length waves. Not knowing quite what to say Angela invited them all to sit down with her, Hodgins, and Zach.

""

"Rebecca, how many times are we going to have this argument before you understand!" Booth was furious. His ex-girlfriend just couldn't seem to accept magic, and, therefore, his son. His eyes focused on her pale face, and his eyes bore into hers, trying desperately to make her comprehend.

"Seeley, it's not that easy! All my life I've been told that magic doesn't exist, that it's impossible. Then all of a sudden, some strange woman interrupts my evening to tell me not only that all that magic exists, but that my son is one of these people who can do magic? It's a bit rich of you to expect me to accept it, don't you think?"

"No, I don't think its 'a bit rich' at all!" Booth pounded out furiously. "He's your son. Wouldn't you love him if he was disabled?"

"Yes," Rebecca began, "but,"

"Wouldn't you love him if he was a genius?"

Rebecca reached up and slapped him. The sound seemed to echo and Booth inhaled sharply. His face stung with pain and his stomach clenched with anger. Before he could ay anything, Rebecca continued. "Of course I would Seeley! I can't believe you'd even ask that. Just listen to me! Do you not find it the slightest bit daunting that your son has enough power in his little pinky to kill someone – even entirely by accident?"

Booth opened his mouth to object, but Rebecca hushed him and continued, now well into her tirade. "It should Seeley. Does it not bother you that he's going to grow up in a different world from us? There are so many facets of his life – our life – that have been turned upside down because of this, and I think I should be allowed some time to get used to it."

Finally, Rebecca paused. By this time, tears streaked her face and she looked at him imploringly. "I love Parker, no matter what he is, but I need some time," she finished quietly. "You can look after him for a few weeks while I get used to it."

Booth stood gaping at her like an idiot. "Rebecca, maybe Dr Brennan can talk to you – help you understand."

"You told her about Parker?" Rebecca asked quickly.

Booth shook - then nodded his head. "She's a witch. She was with Parker and I when it happened."

Rebecca's face suddenly grew hard with comprehension. "I see. So your girlfriend thinks that just because she is some kind of alien that she's superior and that she can be a mother to my son, is that how it is?"

Booth gawped. "Rebecca, what are you going on about – Bones isn't my girlfriend! And she's certainly not trying to replace you, nor is she an alien! And if you're calling her an alien, you're calling Parker one too!"

"Well then he is!" she cried bitterly. "He's not my son. He's possessed. That boy is not my son, not Parker!"

There were no words for Booth's shock. He turned away from his sobbing ex-girlfriend in somewhat of a daze, wondering what the hell had just transpired. As soon as he was out of her sight, he pulled out his cell and dialled.

""

Tempe tried unsuccessfully for the fifth time to start a conversation between her two groups of friends. Sighing, she miserably chewed her food and sat back. She had so hoped all of them would get along – for once everything would have seemed right in her life, but instead she was graced with the familiar social awkwardness that had cursed her ever since she left Hogwarts. She wondered wistfully, not for the first time, what would have happened if she'd never left.

Finally, trying to be polite for Tempe's sake, Angela asked Cynbie and Alden, "So how did you guys all meet?"

"We all went to school together," Alden answered, without thinking of the possible consequences.

"Really?" asked Zack, "what school?"

Before Alden even had a chance to open his mouth Cynbie said, "A private school in England."

Wrong answer, Tempe thought as she sighed and rubbed her temples. Cynbie noticed Tempe's distressed look and bit her lip.

"England?" Angela asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah," Emmett piped up, reminding the adults that they weren't alone. "They went to Hogwarts together."

Kelvin poked his jabbed his brother in the ribs and whispered, "Shh, they're muggles."

The shrill ring of her cell cut through the renewed silence. She snapped the phone to her ear, welcoming the interruption, and answered briskly. "Brennan,"

"Bones, it's me," Booth's voice was tinny and empty on the other end. "I need your help."

"With what?" she asked immediately.

She could hear Booth's heavy breathing on the other end of the line. "It's Rebecca. She's not taking Parker's wizardlyness well. In fact, she's gone mad, Bones. Say he's not her son, crazy things like that." He was clearly worried.

Tempe nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "It's not unusual in this type of situation. Call Kate Taylor on the number she gave us, she'll get her the help she needs. She should be back to normal in two or three weeks, with proper counselling."

"Not unusual!" Booth sounded shocked.

"Not unusual," Tempe confirmed. "It's quite shocking for most people, Booth,"

Booth sounded only slightly less concerned. "Two or three weeks?"

Tempe sighed, glancing at her watch. This was going to take a while. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

She hit the end call button and stared at the phone for a few seconds. "Booth needs me," she explained briefly. "Cynbie, Alden, did you want to stay here or go back home?"

They both quickly stood up, agreeing to go home. There was an awkward farewell and the family of six plus Tempe trooped out of the door. A few seconds passed before the Squints spoke. "Well that was intiguing," Hodgins commented.

""

"Auror Brennan, I must protest! This is not a MLE matter, this is DAMIM jurisdiction!" Kate Taylor seemed slightly shocked at Tempe's presence.

"I'm a trained healer, I'll deal with it, Ms Taylor," Tempe said heavily.

"You'll file the appropriate paperwork to the Ministry and the International Confederation, Auror Brennan?" Kate asked warily.

"You can count on it," Tempe replied tightly, clearly not happy about the prospect.

Kate shrugged and saluted Tempe before vanishing with a loud pop.

Tempe turned to Rebecca and pulled out her wand, pointing it in her direction. "Whoa, Bones, what are you doing?" Booth asked angrily, pulling her arm away.

Snatching her arm back, Tempe pointed the wand back at Rebecca, focusing on her forehead. "Casting a diagnostic," she retorted snappily. Booth looked appropriately sheepish.

A flash of vivid purple light emerged, and was partially absorbed. Purple flecks hung on the air, sparkling as they dropped to the ground. Rebecca's cheeks flushed slightly purple.

"This doesn't seem to indicate any abnormal mental activity," Tempe murmured. Booth gave her a look as if to say, 'are you insane?'. "She's fine, just a little confused," she declared.

Tempe stood right in front of Rebecca and clapped her palms together, creating a booming sound that reverberated through the room. "Look at me,"

Rebecca did. Her face showed recognition as she took in Tempe's features. "You! You're one of them!"

"One of whom?"

"One of the people who kidnapped my son and replaced him with that impostor!"

"Rebecca, that's ridiculous! Parker is your son. The ability to perform magic is a combination of three recessive and two dominant genes, that if present in a child, will cause them to be a witch or wizard. It is therefore entirely possible, albeit rare that two completely non-magical people could have a child who is magical, while two magical people can have a non-magical offspring."

Rebecca seemed to consider it. Then she began to cry, tears leaking from her eyes at an astonishing rate. She began to blubber and sniffle, mumbling between her words. She drew her arms around her body, hugging herself. "I'm so sorry, Parker, Parker sorry," she seemed to be mumbling, over and over.

Tempe gave her sometime to calm down. "Is there some way to block it?" Rebecca piped up suddenly after a few minutes.

"I'm sorry?"

"Block his magic," Rebecca reiterated.

Tempe looked stunned at the very suggestion. "You would deny your son his birthright? Magic is the greatest thing that could ever happen to your son! The Wizarding world is one of the oldest societies in the world! As a wizard, Parker will have the opportunity to see and experience things that most kids only dream of. Why would want to take that away from him?"

"Magic tricks will get my son nowhere. In this world, he will have access to modern medicine and excellent education-"

"Wizarding medication is of the highest standard," Tempe retorted indignantly. "We have had an instant cure for broken bones for over two centuries, and blood replenishing potions have prevented people bleeding to death since the early 1500s." Rebecca opened her mouth to speak, but Tempe ploughed on relentlessly. "We can repair damage to the dermis in approximately fifteen minutes and regrow organs such as lungs and livers. If that's not top notch medicine I don't know what is." Booth put a hand on her arm, and she paused to look at him.

"Bones, calm down." He told her. "Breathe in – and out. Let Rebecca speak too."

"What about safety? How safe is the Wizarding World?" Rebecca demanded.

"It's perfectly safe. Children are taught intensive self-defence from the day they turn eleven. Even so, it's not required. We're in a state of peace at the moment."

"At the moment?" Rebecca questioned.

"We recently concluded a war, but rest assured, there's none of that nonsense going around anymore."

"Nonsense, what nonsense?" Rebecca queried anxiously.

Tempe waved it away, concluding her argument. "Bottom line is that accidental magic is fine for a five year old, but if a child can't control their magic by the time they've hit puberty, it can be extremely dangerous for themselves and others. There is nothing you can do about that."

Rebecca had the expression of one who had been slapped with a wet fish. "In accordance with Ministry and International Policy, you have two weeks to work through your issues and think about it. You will have to attend an orientation meeting and receive at least six hours worth of counselling during this time. When the two weeks are up, your case will be reviewed."

"Wait, what are you doing?" Rebecca panicked, shocked by Tempe's tone.

Tempe looked regretful. "I'm sorry, but the Ministry cannot allow anyone who expresses that their magical child is possessed to be alone with them. Parker will have to stay with Booth for the next two weeks, until you can prove that he will be safe with you."

"But you can't do that! Why? I would never hurt Parker! I know he's my son, I love him, you can't take him away from me!"

"I know that, you know that, but it's not always the case. Laws like this are only introduced because children have been abused by confused parents. The Ministry wishes to prevent this sort of thing, obviously. You can still see him. You just can't be alone with him for two weeks. I have every confidence you'll pass the test."

There were no words for Rebecca's shock and regret. Booth also seemed slightly shocked, but there was no hiding that he was pleased that he would have Parker for the next two weeks.

""

"_Tempe! How are you? We haven't talked in ages!" Fiona's face __swam__ in the mirror._

"_Can I please come and live with you? Please?" Tempe begged, flopping down on her bed._

_Fiona raised and eyebrow and flicked a plait over her shoulder. "Your parents aren't that bad."_

"_My parents are gone. They__ disappeared__ just before Christmas. __P__lease can I come and live with you? I'm stuck in foster care. I hate it here. I can't talk to any of these Muggles__A__nd being a foster kid makes me an outcast."_

_Fiona took a moment to say that Tempe wouldn't be able to go and live with her. "Besides," she added. "You wouldn't want to live with Thatcher. That little brat has been on a sugar high all day."_

_Fiona's little brother followed her around constantly. "He's going to be at Hogwarts this year. Merlin it's going to suck. Oh – hold on," she put the mirror down and Tempe heard rapid footsteps going out the door. There was a loud shout of 'THATCHER' and the younger boy's giggle. Tempe sighed and closed off the connection on the mirror. She didn't need Fiona's whining about her family to remind her of what she'd lost. The plain white walls of the foster home did that quite well enough by themselves. _

**Authors Note: **This is just a little disclaimer about my info on the foster system. I know nothing about it here, let alone in America. If someone wants to help me out and give me some info that I could use, go ahead, I'll love you forever.

Also, sorry about the terrible lateness of the chapter. I have been run down with a hundred different things for school etc, and when I did finish finally it, my Beta was busy so it took her a while to get back to me. Be glad that this chapter is a little longer than the last, and that it's been edited to perfection, so hopefully you liked it! It's a bit of a shame about the time, but life does seem to get in the way of these sort of things. Hopefully it won't be as long next time, if I can help it.


	11. The School

**The MAIM Project**

**Tempe has a secret. It's a secret that her latest case with Booth will reveal. Crossover with Harry Potter. BB**

The Squints were stunned. Half an hour ago, Tempe had called them into her office, and proceeded to explain that yes, magic does exist and, yes, she did know about it. No, it wasn't a government conspiracy (though Hodgins wasn't convinced) and yes, she was a witch. Yes, the victims were all magical. Oh, and that genetic anomaly? That was magic.

Now, after a short trip, by portkey of course, which caused everyone but Tempe to collapse in a muddled heap on the floor, they found themselves in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. Tempe herself was a little surprised. Although she'd been wanting to tell her friends about this hidden part of her life for quite some time, she had found it difficult to part with the information when the time had actually come. It was with great reluctance that she had admitted her past to them at all.

"You actually went to school here?" Booth gaped incredulously, looking around at the hall, head craning upward towards the ceiling.

Tempe nodded. "A proud Ravenclaw." None of them bothered asking what a Ravenclaw was, they were all preoccupied with the storm that was brewing overhead. 

"Is that real?" Angela asked worriedly, casting yet another glance at the heavy rain cloud.

"No," came Tempe's prompt answer, followed by a hurried explanation. "It's enchanted to reflect the outside sky, but it's only 2D." Glancing quickly at the ceiling, Tempe was hit with regret and remorse. The Great Hall was Fiona's favourite part of the castle. She loved the way the ceiling constantly changed from dark storm clouds to clear starry night skies. This trip back to the castle was not going to be as easy as she'd hoped.

They all cast one last dubious look at the ceiling before Tempe led them out. When they stopped, they found themselves in front of a grand set of staircases. Tempe dithered for a moment, looked at her watch, before choosing one. "Better take this one," was all she said by way of explanation. She hopped onto the first step, before continuing on with long strides, taking the steps two at a time. She was seemingly in a hurry to get somewhere.

"Why… this… one…" Angela panted as she struggled to keep up with her and Booth.

Zach and Hodgins tried to keep up a total of ten seconds before realising that it was hopeless and giving up completely. They just hoped that they'd reach their destination before Tempe disappeared from their line of vision.

Suddenly, just as Hodgins was explaining his ingenious plan to not get lost to Zach, everyone paused. There was an enormous grinding coming from somewhere beneath them. Actually, right beneath them. "Hodgins, the staircase is gyrating."

Hodgins frowned. "Did you have to say it like that?"

"Like what?" Zach replied indignantly. "And did you hear what I said? We're moving!"

Hodgins shrugged. "I'd noticed," he said calmly, and indicated Tempe, further up the same, seemingly never ending, staircase. "But she doesn't seem to mind, so I figure that's what was supposed to happen. Besides, I can think of several, perfectly reasonable explanations." 

"Like?"

"Well, for a start, there could be some kind of magically operated rotating motor on the base, with a series of electrical magnets at the join point of each staircase with the flight it lands on. When one turns off, the other switches on and the rotating motor switches on too…" he spent a good part of the next ten minutes explaining various theories, and Zach was steadily loosing interest.

Tempe was, as Hodgins explained this, assuring Booth and Angela that it was completely 'normal'. "Why," she asked, "do you think I chose this staircase rather than the other? Trust me, we're going the right way. I lived in this castle for 6 years." Booth and Angela accepted this warily, continuing to follow her after only the smallest pause of doubt.

TMP

"Zach, I think we're lost." Hodgins sighed, looking around at the walls that were identical to every other wall they'd seen in the castle, grey stone, bits of moss growing in the cracks. Hodgins pulled a plastic container out of his pocket scraped up some of the moss.

Seeing Zach looking at him with raised eyebrows, he defended himself. "Dude, this is not just any moss. It could be magical moss!"

"Right," said Zach sceptically. "Is it magic enough to help us find the way?"

Hodgins paused. "Oh, right. Um, no."

"Where are you trying to go, dears?" another voice interrupted. 

Without stopping to look who it was, Zach glared at Hodgins and replied. "We don't know. We were following our friend."

The person made a noise of disapproval, and exclaimed. "Oh! So you're the two fools!" 

Hodgins and Zach whirled around. "Oi!" They exclaimed in chorus. Then they paused. No-one was there. "Where'd she go?"

"_She _is the cat's mother," the voice scolded, and this time they saw that it was a portrait talking. "And I'm right here. Now, do you want my help or not?"

Hodgins looked like he was about to object, so Zach cut in quickly. "Yes!"

The portrait nodded approvingly. "Very well. You were headed for the Ravenclaw common rooms. At the top of this staircase, turn right. I'll be waiting." 

Hodgins was about to ask how she would be waiting, since she was stuck in her spot on the wall, but the blonde woman had vanished from the painting. The pair of them blinked.

"I think we should follow her advice," Zach offered after a moment.

"Are you nuts?" Hodgins stared. "You want to follow the advice of a talking painting?"

Zach nodded. "You can't tell me you haven't seen weirder things today. And besides, it's not like we have much else choice."

So, reluctantly, Hodgins followed the portrait's advice. The Portrait proved very helpful, even if Hodgins did grow to hate her very quickly. "Mind your step there!" her voice warned, but Hodgins ignored her, fed up with her advice – turn left, turn right, etc- and managed to get his foot caught in the trick step.

"Oh dear," said the portrait, and said she'd have to take Zach to get Tempe, as she couldn't help.

TMP

It must have been 20 minutes later when Tempe finally got to him, and led him to the Ravenclaw common room, warning that if he didn't keep up this time, she'd make him. Booth, Angela and Zach were already waiting in the common room when they entered. "Now that we're all here," Tempe began, and proceeded to explain where the dorms were and everything else. When she had finished, she looked at her watch. . 

"We have to be up and in the Great Hall by 7 tomorrow morning." Noticing their confused faces she added, "The Great Hall is the one we landed in earlier. I'll probably get up early to walk around a little, so if you get lost the portraits and ghosts will be happy to help." Tempe glanced at her watch again, analogue of course, and stated, "I suggest you all get to bed, it's 11.30 now." The entire time Tempe was careful not to let her voice or words give away the regret she felt. Everything from the portraits to the moving staircase, to the moss growing on the walls reminded her of Fiona.

The squints immediately evacuated, leaving only Tempe and Booth in the common room.

"Are you heading to bed, too, then?"

"Not just yet." Tempe replied, indicating a newspaper that had just appeared on the table.

"Okay," Booth shrugged, lowering himself into an armchair.

"Hold on," Tempe said. "what are you doing?"

Booth shrugged. "Waiting for you to go to bed. You need to get more sleep, you know."

Tempe frowned. "Booth, I don't need a babysitter. I can look after myself."

"I know you can. But I also know you. You love to work more than you love to sleep."

Tempe frowned again. It was true, in a manner, not that she'd admit it to Booth, but that didn't mean that he needed to watch her. In fact, she'd wanted some time alone, before going up to the dorms, where Fiona had snuck in more than once for a girls night

Sighing, she gave in, rolling up the newspaper and tucking it underneath her arm. "Okay, fine. Goodnight, Booth," she began to climb the staircase to the girls dorms. In fact, she'd wanted some time alone before going up to the dorms, where Fiona had snuck in more than once for a girls night, but figured that this wasn't going to happen. She steeled herself for the memories.

She was half way up when a call interrupted her. "Oh no you don't!"

"What?" Tempe asked.

" You're just going to read it up in you room where I can't watch you!"

Tempe sighed. "Like I already said, I don't need a babysitter, Booth."

Booth began to follow her up the stairs, saying "Give me the…"

But he was cut off. The stairway had suddenly turned into a slide. A very slippery slide, at that, and before he had a chance to re-orient himself, he was toppling down and landing unceremoniously on the ground. Seconds later, the fell on top of him.

"I told you that boys can't go into the girls dorms!" Tempe complained loudly, trying to get off him but finding it harder to move than she thought. Actually, now that she thought of it, did she really want to move? 

She slipped slightly, and Booth steadied her with his hands.

"You never said what would happen, though, Bones," Booth reminded her, his breathing shallow. 

"No," Tempe agreed slowly, slightly breathy herself. "I didn't."

He was looking directly into her eyes. She could feel her heart racing. And suddenly, they were kissing. It didn't last long – just a few seconds of lips teasing lips – and then, as Tempe realised what she was doing, a muffled gasp as she scrambled off Booth, and she dashed up the stairs, leaving the newspaper, and Booth, behind.

Booth, for his part, didn't move from the floor for a good fifteen minutes, trying to figure out what had just happened.

TMP

The next morning Booth woke up at 6. He got dressed and headed straight down to the great hall after hearing from Angela that Tempe had already been gone when she'd woken up. He managed, by some small miracle and the help of a few portraits along that way (one of which tried to challenge him to a duel) not to get incredibly lost. Tempe wasn't there, but breakfast was, and he wasn't about to turn down food. Hodgins, Zach and Angela entered together when he was starting on his second egg, and were soon following his example. 

Tempe didn't end up joining them at all for breakfast, but just as they were finishing up, the largest man they had ever seen walked in and introduced himself as Hagrid. His handshake was enough to make Hodgins wince in pain. 

"Are you a giant?" Zach asked.

For a moment, Hagrid looked almost offended, before he replied. "Nah," he grinned. "'m half 'n half. Sometimes I forget…" he trailed off. "But you lot are Muggles, aren't you?" He sounded delighted. "Much nicer than the last bunch o' Muggles I met."

Hodgins, Zach and Angela looked at him blankly, while Booth supplied them with an explanation. 

"Hold on," Angela interrupted. "You knew about this before us!" she accused, glaring at him. 

Well, he couldn't exactly deny it. "They wouldn't grant Bones permission to tell you at first, and besides, Parker is a wizard." 

"Sending him to Hogwarts, then?" Hagrid asked. 

Booth paused. "I doubt it. It's a bit too far away from home."

Hagrid looked a bit disappointed, and explained that he was the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and then told them that he would be taking them to the forest, where Tempe would meet them.

Walking down to the forest, they passed a large playing field of some sort, where a black dot was darting across the sky. Suddenly, it changed direction and began to head toward them. As it got closer, they could make out the shape of a person, and then the realised that it was Tempe. She landed with a soft thump on the ground beside them. 

"We're all ready, then?"

"What on earth are you wearing!"

Tempe looked down at herself. "Flying robes. I'd better get changed. Hagrid, I'll see you there in ten minutes." 

Tempe hopped astride her broom again, partially because she'd forgotten how much she liked it, and partially because she wanted to make an impression on the Squints. And make an impression she did. They all gaped at her incredulously, 

When Tempe returned, she was back in her normal work clothes, and the flying robes were no-where to be seen.

"Right," Tempe took a deep breath. "Before we go in, you need to know that you will most likely see some very strange creatures. I'm not sure exactly what, but I do recall some centaurs, diricawls, unicorns and the like. Some are harmless, but most aren't, so don't wander off by yourselves. Let's go in." 

Angela looked from Tempe to the forest, an eyebrow slightly raised. "It sounds so… ominous. And it doesn't look all that friendly either."

They all turned to look. It did look a bit spooky, darkened by the thick coverage of trees and the floor covered by dead plants and twisting vines. Angela jumped as she spotted one dark green vine twisting itself up a tree.

"Um, Dr. Brennan. I don't think that we'll find anything by just going into a forest and looking around. We need search dogs or something." Zach offered, looking at it warily.

Hagrid frowned. "I've got some nifflers if you want..." 

But Tempe had out her wand and was muttering something over it that they couldn't make out. Then, placing her wand flat on her palm, she said clearly "Point me!"

The wand spun for a moment on her palm, before settling on a direction. "That's where we want to go," Tempe said. She smiled back over her shoulder towards her companions. It was a great feeling, being able to do magic. And it only made it better that she could share it with her friends.

The wand led them into a clearing. "Right. This is the place."

Tempe reached into her pocket, and put a small box on the ground. A second later, it had enlarged significantly, and they could see that they small box was all their equipment under a shrinking charm. After using the ground penetrating radar, they discovered that near the edge of the clearing, about three feet down, there was a disturbance in the normal dirt patterns. Hodgins took a sample of the dirt for comparison with the traces he'd found on the other bones, and then Zach and Tempe got to work carefully excavating the hole. What they found was that it was filled with bones.

While Zach and Tempe examined the first few bones, Hodgins and Angela sat with Hagrid and watched, occasionally asking the enormous man something about the magical world. 

For a while, the work was routine. They would find a bone, establish an age and race, and place it with other bones that belonged to the same skeleton. But as they reached the bottom of the hole, that changed. 

Zach had a radius in his hand. "Caucasian," he said. "early twenties. Hey, what's that?" He brushed a clump of dirt off the bone carefully. "Dr Brennan, this one has something written on it!"

Tempe came over to have a look. Carved into the bone was a message. "_You're next, Herbert Plumber, filthy mudblood_."

Tempe took a gulp of air. "Okay, Zach, photograph that. If you find any more with writing, tell me, okay?" 

He did find more, and so did she. 

_You're next, __Reginald Boxer. Can you scream as loud as your friend_?

Then, _You're first, Carys Waters. Welcome to the real MAIM Project_.

"Hold on, Zach," Tempe said, when seeing the one that said '_you're first_'. She took the bone off him and examined it closely. 

"This bone is too perfect. There aren't any anomalies except for the writing. It's like the bone of a child in adult proportions. I don't think it's real. I think it's transfigured."

"Trans what?" asked Booth, coming over to look.

Tempe answered without looking at him, still engrossed in the bone. "Transfigured. Changed from one thing to another. Probably a rock or something to start with. I couldn't know. We'll have to send this to an expert."

"Why, can't you do it?" Angela asked.

Tempe shook her head. "Merlin, no! It's too advanced, undoing someone else's work. I don't even know what it was to start with. Zach, keep digging." She placed the bone back down. 

"So why do you think they would have transthingied it?"

Tempe shrugged at Booth's question. "I don't know. They wanted a pattern? They wanted to scare this Carys Waters? They're obviously mentally disturbed. Definitely Death Eaters, though."

"How do you know?"

Tempe grabbed the bone again, and indicated a small symbol at the end of the script. "This is the Dark Mark, the symbol of the Death Eaters. But this one is a little different," she indicated four letters at the corners of the symbol. M, A, I and M. "It might have been an elite sector, or even a sect."

Zach interrupted her explanation. "I've got another one! _Lucy Hill, you're next. Perhaps this will teach you not to steal magic._"

Tempe and Booth began another discussion about what this could mean, with the occasional input from Hodgins, Angela or Hagrid.

"But it says stealing magic. It must mean something!"

"Hold on, they were all muggleborn, right? And these Death Eaters were pureblood supremacists?" Booth asked slowly. "Is it possible for-,"

"Dr Brennan, you need to see this!" Zach exclaimed.

Tempe hurried over to look, Booth hovering behind her. 

Zach, ashen faced, held up the bone for all to see what was written.

_You're next, Temperance Brennan. Have fun!_

**Authors Notes: **I'd like to thank you all for bearing with me. I've been on exchange to Italy, and didn't have much chance to write while I was there, and I got this to you all as soon as possible afterwards. I hope the lack of posting hasn't put you off. There aren't really that many more chapters left, four or five, maybe, I think. I hope to post again soon, but I'm in my last year of school now so time is a major factor for me. I hope you all continue to enjoy my story, please don't hesitate to give any feedback at all, good or bad.


	12. The Simulation

The MAIM Project

**The MAIM Project**

**Bones has a secret. It's a secret that her latest case with Booth will reveal. Crossover with Harry Potter. BB**

Blood rushed angrily behind Tempe's eyes, building on her already enormous headache.

It had been a long week. After finding the falsified remains with her name inscribed on them two days ago, she had formulated a rough hypothesis that the victims had been pre-picked. Still, she couldn't help but feel like she was missing something. She kept questioning herself. Why would they pick these people? It seem so random. Why… what would the death eaters want with her? She just couldn't see the connection.

She sighed heavily, dropping her chin onto one hand, massaging her temple with the other.

After a few moments passed, Tempe stood up and declared, "I'm getting a headache potion,"

Booth glanced up. "I'll come with you."

Zach looked like he was about to say something, but Angela stepped firmly on his foot and glared meaningfully.

So Tempe and Booth walked down to the hospital wing in relative silence. When they were nearly there Booth spoke. "So why would they have wanted you?"

It was a question that had remained unvoiced between the entire team the last few days. Tempe had been hoping (rather foolishly) that it would remain so.

There was an awkward silence. Tempe gave an awkward one-shoulder shrug.

"I mean, you were living in America at the time, weren't you? So what would the Death Eaters want with you?" It seemed that now Booth had begun to talk, all his questions were going to come out in one go. "Do you think it's a little suspicious? I mean, I know you're great, but it seems a bit excessive, planning to kill someone in another country unless they had some kind of a personal grudge."

Tempe stared at him, and he realised that he had been babbling. These were questions that Tempe had been asking herself, the ones she still didn't have any answers for. "I honestly have no idea, Booth. Maybe…" she trailed off.

Booth looked at her expectantly and continued. "My family was related to the Ollivanders'. Maybe they knew that? But still…"

Booth looked confused.

"Wandmakers," Tempe explained briefly, and Booth made an 'oh' of slight understanding.

Tempe rubbed her jaw and sighed, looking lost. "I just don't know."

Booth nodded, and pulled her into an impromptu hug. Her body slowly relaxed and he let her go. "Let's get some headache potion, hey?"

She nodded and they walked the rest of the say in silence.

TMP

"Cynbie? Alden? Why are you here?"

Alden stood back and allowed his wife to embrace their friend in a warm hug. "Your friends called us yesterday and told us what happened. We came by portkey as soon as it was authorised."

Tempe wriggled out of Cynbie's grasp. "Where are the children?"

"They came with us. Your other friends are with them now. So is Parker."

Tempe nodded, and sat down in a plush armchair. Cynbie and Alden seated themselves either side of her.

"Are you alright,?" Alden asked finally after a few tense moments of silence.

Tempe nodded. "Just fine." She paused. "No, actually, I'm about a far from fine as you could possibly be. Tell me, why would they have wanted me? Merlin's crystal ball, I was living in another country. There's got to be something missing!" Tempe sighed, both relieved and slightly surprised that she was able to get all that off her chest.

"When were they buried?"

"Nine years ago. So when we were twenty one."

"Oh, so they must have noticed you when you came over home for that visit then." Alden said simply.

"What?"

"When you came home," Alden repeated.

Tempe shook her head. "I never came home. Until a few days ago, I hadn't been home since your wedding."

Cynbie and Alden shook their heads as one, frowning. "No, you definitely came over for Kelvin's first birthday."

Tempe shook her head. "I don't remember that."

"What do you mean, you don't remember? You were there! You gave Kelvin his auror-ted. You doted on him. You helped me make the cake." Cynbie begged her to remember.

"No," Tempe shook her head, her face growing steadily whiter. "That didn't happen. I don't remember that."

"You left early. You meant to stay for a fortnight, but after three days we got an owl from you saying you had had to run home." Alden reminded her gently.

"I've been obliviated," Tempe said, horrified, as Cynbie and Alden watched her worriedly. "But why?"

Cynbie shrugged and moved to hug her friend, who was by now sobbing.

"Maybe you knew something, overheard something," Alden suggested softly.

"Maybe," Tempe replied in a small voice.

TMP

"Right. It is our job, as Tempe's friends, to help her regain her memory." Alden announced to the squints and Booth. "Our best bet is to simulate Kelvin's birthday, as that's one thing we know exactly that occurred. Kelvin will be fed a de-aging potion, as will I. We will act out the events as they transpired on the evening. The rest of you will sit down, shut up, and be supportive. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded.

"Right. Questions?"

Zach raised a hand. "Why doesn't Cynbie have to take a de-aging potion too?"

Cynbie looked extremely offended at this.

"My wife has aged very gracefully. She doesn't need one. Any _other _questions?"

"Why can't you just use one of those penny-sleeves? You know, a memory bowl?" Booth asked. "Wouldn't that work better?"

Alden shook his head. "It would be a bit like watching a play. You need involvement to trigger memories. Besides, we can't actually afford one. They're not the cheapest things in the world. Anything else?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Right, let's get started."

TMP

"Oh, hello Tempe. You're just in time. How was the journey?"

Tempe shrugged uneasily. This whole simulation game seemed a bit of a stretch to her. "A bit jerky. How's Kelvin? Can I hold him?" she read off her script dryly.

Cynbie handed the baby on her hip over to Tempe. "He's getting big."

"I wish I'd been able to come see you earlier," Tempe read, feeling stupid.

They continued along this vein for several minutes, before Tempe threw down her script. "Oh, this is ridiculous! Why can't you all just let me be!"

Everyone looked at her stunned.

"I'm not going to remember, alright. It's stupid. I have no idea what happened, I was obliviated. My memory isn't going to magically come back, alright?"

Cynbie pulled Kelvin from Tempe's arms and stepped back. She reached behind her for the counter potion and fed it to the baby, who was grown to his normal size within seconds.

Tempe watched, shaking her head. "I give up. Just...just leave me alone for a bit."

She walked out, slamming the door behind her.

Tempe was almost at the edge of the forbidden forest when Booth caught up with her.

"Bones, Bones," he called as she ran toward the forest. "Tempe, wait! Just talk to me, please!"

She turned to look at him. Suddenly, a white hot pain flashed across her forehead and she yelped in pain, bringing her hand to her head.

"Tempe?" Booth asked carefully. "I know it's hard to think about,"

Another flash of pain was accompanied by a sense of déjà vu. The blood rushed from her face, her eyeballs rolled backwards in their sockets and she collapsed backwards into a faint.

**A/N: **Two chapters to go after this one. Hopefully I'll have time to finish them and get them up soon. Someone said something about them meeting the Hogwarts gang. I don't really see that happening - they're not needed for the story. At first, I did try to write this in rather early on, but every meeting seemed a bit contrived, so I decided to just leave them out. Oh, and should anyone need clarification, an auror-ted is just lik teddy bear in auror's robes.


	13. The Memories

The MAIM Project

**The MAIM Project**

**Bones has a secret. It's a secret that her latest case with Booth will reveal. Crossover with Harry Potter. BB**

_She was running toward a forest. Cynbie was chasing after her. "Tempe, wait! Just talk to me, please!" _

_Tempe turned toward her friend's voice and paused for a moment._

"_Tempe?" Cynbie's voice was soft and probing. "I know it's hard to think about,"_

_With those words, Tempe took off at a run again. She couldn't stay here. As she as running, she turned around to see how far she'd gotten, and realised she didn't know her way out again. She suppressed a sob of distress and stopped, sitting down on the ground and wrapping her arms around her body. _

"_I shouldn't have come home," she mumbled, and a tear leaked out of the corner of her eye. _

_Soon, she was crying loud gulping sobs, and hiccoughing in between. "And I don't belong anywhere anymore," she wailed loudly. So wrapped up in her crying she failed to notice the approach of a group of men. _

_The__y__ were mere meters away when she looked up. "Who are you?" she asked fearfully, spying their cloaks and masks, her tears forgotten. There were about five of them, hidden under dark brown robes and matching masks. They didn't look like Death Eaters, but they didn't exactly look friendly, either._

"_Who are you?" the one who seemed to be in the lead countered._

"_Tempe. Temperance Brennan," she stuttered out nervously._

_The men looked at each other. "How many NEWTs did you get?"_

_Tempe was confused by the question. "Eleven Outstandings," she said warily, wondering what they wanted with her, since apparently they weren't just going to kill her straight out._

"_Muggleborn, right?" they asked, a sneer in the voice._

_Tempe nodded, closing her eyes as she waited for the killing curse. Instead, she heard a rough voice from the back of the group saying 'she'll do just fine,' and another aiming a spell at her. "_Sogna!_" she opened her eyes in time to see the pastel blue spell fly toward her and hit her between the eyes, before she fell into a deep sleep._

_When she woke, she was in a dark, damp cell. A patch of __mold__ was growing on the ground next to her where water was dripping every few seconds. She looked up. The ceiling was cracked and the leaky plumbing looked like it had been a DIY fix-it job. A few spider webs were based in the corners of the room, but it looked like even the spiders had abandoned this place. The incredible stench of death permeated the air. _

"_Where am I?"_

_A voice to her right answered. "Hell."_

_She looked around. Five other cells occupied the same room, and only one of them was empty. The other __occupants__ looked like they'd been there for quite some time. Their eyes were bloodshot, their hair was unkempt, their clothes were ragged, and they were dirty. They were emaciated and looked ill. She looked down at herself. She, too, was dirty and her hair was a mess. She felt like she hadn't eaten in days. "How long was I out? Who are you?"_

"_You've been sleeping for about four days."_

"_Who are you? Why are we here?"_

"_Carys Waters,"_

"_Reginald Boxer,"_

"_Lucy Hill,"_

"_Herbert Plumber."_

"_Why are we here?"_

"_So far as we can figure, we all got eleven NEWTs, and we're all Muggleborn. Otherwise, we have no idea. So who are you?"_

"_Tempe Brennan. How long have you been here?"_

"_Weeks, maybe months. Carys has been here the longest." _

_TMP_

_It had been four weeks. Tempe had been keeping a tally on the floor. Carys had disappeared one day, followed by Lucy a week later. Herbert had been replaced by a skeleton a week after that. It was only Reginald and Tempe left, and they both knew it wouldn't be long before they were gone too._

"_Reggie?"_

"_Yeah, Tempe?" the reply was in a scratchy voice, sore from disuse and hunger._

_She reached through the bars of the cell and grabbed his hand. "If we __g__et out of here, what's the first thing you'll do?"_

_Reginald laughed. "Oh, Tempie. You don't honestly believe…"_

"_I don't care." she cut him off, squashing back tears. "What would you do?" she asked insistently._

_Reginald thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose we'd both be really hungry, so I'd have to take you to dinner." He squeezed her hand gently._

"_Don't be silly," Tempe laughed, or at least tried to, but found herself choking on tears._

"_I really like you, Tempe. If we weren't stuck in here, I really would take you to dinner."_

_Tempe nodded sadly. "Tell you what, Reg. If we make it out of here alive, I'll hold you to that."_

"_If we get out alive, we should get married."_

"_What?" Tempe responded, shocked._

"_Well, if the date goes well anyway," Reginald told her with a smile._

_Tempe emitted a puff of laughter. "You wish."_

_Reginald brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. She pulled her hand back, and rubbed it where his lips had touched. It was tingling._

_TMP_

_Tempe woke up the next morning and Reginald was gone. In his cell, there was a skeleton, and in her cell, there was a bone. She read the script on it through the dank light. _You're next, Temperance Brennan. Have fun!

_So they had known. They'd all known when they were going to be taken. Reginald had known when he was going to be taken. _

_She let out a wail of grief and shook the bars of her cell. "Let me out!" she screamed. "Let me out now!"_

_No-one responded._

_TMP_

_Six days had passed. If the pattern was to be trusted, tomorrow she would find out what had happened to the rest of them. A man in a brown, just like the ones who had kidnapped her in the first place entered._

"_No!" she protested. "One more day. You're supposed to give me one more day!"_

_The voice that replied was patronising. "I don't know why I put myself out for you people." He pointed his wand. "_Silencio!_"_

_He opened the cell. "Don't struggle. I'm rescuing you."_

_She looked at him with her eyebrows raised. Her grabbed her hand and gripped a blue ring. Suddenly, she felt the familiar tug at her naval. A portkey. Moments later and Tempe was sprawled on the ground, the man in brown standing behind her looking perfectly composed. He removed the silencing spell._

"_What do you want? Why was I kidnapped? Why are you saving me?"_

"_You were to be part of an experiment. Those running the experiment believe that muggleborn witches and wizards are not born with magic, but rather, they steal it off wizard children. I am rescuing you because I'm not stupid. When I was inducted into this experiment, I realised the lack of intellectual research and basis. It is a pointless experiment. They want to remove you of your magic. Unfortunately, this cannot be done without your death."_

_Tempe looked at him in confusion. "Why would you tell me all this?"_

"_You're not going to remember it anyway."_

"_What__?"_

"_Well, as soon as I've gotten you to the colonies, I'm inducing a coma and wiping your memory. I can't have anyone knowing that I was party to your escape."_

_Tempe stared at him incredulously. _

"_Oh, don't look at me like that, you stupid girl. You don't expect me to nurse you back to health and us to form 'an unbreakable bond of friendship and love' or something, do you? I'm just in a good mood today because I've had some chocolate. Don't delude yourself into thinking it's anything more than that."_

_She continued to stare. _

"_What… are you a Death Eater?"_

"'_Yes, of a sort," the man answered casually. "I'm not a regular henchman, though. I just do all his research. I'm not particularly into the killing and maiming, but I suppose to each his own."_

"_What? You're… horrible." Tempe found herself repelled by the man's nonchalance._

"_And you're rather annoying. I might as well induce your coma now and save me from listening to you twitter on about nothing."_

_He raised his wand, pointing it straight between her eyes. "_Lethargus!_"_

_And she knew no more._

**A/N: **That was the last chapter, folks! But there's still the epilogue to come, within the next week, so don't go anywhere! (Just kidding. You are allowed to leave your computer if you'd like, but the epilogue will be up within the week, I promise.)

Oh, and in case anyone didn't get it (a friend told me it was a bit obsure) the reason Tempe was running in the first place was beacuse she couldn't deal with people talking about Fiona like she was dead etc. She was in denial, I suppose. See! Fiona did have a purpose other than just being dead. :)


	14. The End

The MAIM Project

**The MAIM Project**

**Bones has a secret. It's a secret that her latest case with Booth will reveal. Crossover with Harry Potter. BB**

"So it's finally over," Booth said as Tempe flopped into the chair beside him, exhausted.

Tempe nodded. "We identified the last body today, and all the remaining Death Eaters are serving out sentences in Azkaban."

Booth nodded. "And how are you?"

Tempe seemed surprised by the question. "What do you mean? I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Booth queried, concerned. Seeing the look on Tempe's face, he elaborated. "I mean, I know it was difficult for you… Fiona."

Her imprisonment was not mentioned aloud, but still hung in the awkward silence between them.

"Really, Booth, I'm fine." she managed, sincere, after a moment's contemplation.

Booth nodded and leaned back in his chair, satisfied. "Alright then. So how are the squints taking your witchy-ness?"

Tempe grinned at his phrasing. "They're fine with it. They keep trying to find excuses for me to get out my wand, though. If I didn't know better…" she paused, mid thought.

"If you didn't know better? What?" Booth prompted.

Tempe laughed. "Oh, nothing. They're overly enthusiastic, that's all."

It was Booth's turn to laugh. "Of course they would be. I bet Zach and Hodgins are all over it, trying to explain it in terms of science."

Tempe looked at him oddly.

"What?" he asked, catching her gaze.

"Magic is science. It's just another form of energy."

Booth paused for a moment, about to argue the point, but sighed, conceded. He was never going to win an argument about science with her, anyway. It would be foolish to try.

Suddenly it was awkward again. "What are you doing tonight?" Tempe broke the silence.

Booth shrugged. "Going home and watching a movie. You? Are you doing something with Cynbie, Alden, and the kids?"

"No," Tempe shook her head, looking down at the table. "No." she repeated more strongly. "They went home yesterday, so I'm all by myself."

Booth nodded. "Oh, alright. So, um, do you want to come to dinner then?" he asked.

Tempe opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted before she could get out any words.

"Like a date, I mean," he blurted and stared at her, his face somewhere between fear and expectation.

Tempe stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "Sure," she accepted freely.

Booth let out a relieved breath and kissed her firmly on the mouth.

TMP

_The little girl was wearing her school robes for the first time ever, looking at herself from every angle in the bathroom mirror. Her long chestnut coloured hair was tied in a clumsy pony tail at the back of her head. She was frowning at it and attempting to fix it. Finally satisfied, her hands fell to her side._

_Frowning again after a few moments of contemplation over her reflection, she reached up to fiddle with her tie._

_She was retying it for the third time, chewing the side of her cheek in concentration, when she heard a soft call behind her._

"_Marco," her brother came up behind her and she giggled._

_She gave up her struggle with her tie and allowed it to sit messily around her neck as she replied. "Polo."_

"_You're looking very smart," her brother grinned at her._

_The girl pouted and stomped her foot. "I can't get my tie right. It just keeps getting into a knot up here," she indicated the problem with her thumb._

"_Let me show you."_

_The next ten minutes were spent perfecting the tie and tidying up her appearance. _

_When they had finished, her brother grasped her shoulders and turned her around to face him. He stood back to look at her. "I'm proud of you, sis."_

_The little girl's eyes sparked happily as she gazed on her brother. "You're the best brother, ever, Parker."_

_Parker grinned widely and hoisted her into a piggy back. "Come on, my Augusta. Let's show Mom and Dad their precious little witch."_

_Augusta giggled loudly as he carried her out of the room and presented her to her parents._

**Fin.**

**AN: **It feels like it's the end of an era. I really loved working on this story, and I hope you all enjoyed it too. I feel its one of my better pieces of work, despite the challenges that I had in writing it. I was a bit wary, in the beginning, after all, Harry Potter isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Bones crossovers, and there were a few points where I was willing to give up. So I'd like to thank you all for your support, without you and your reviews, this story would never have been finished.


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